
Class L A ajA. 
Bonk _A_4 . 



REPORT 



THE COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE 

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AND CONDITIONS 

OF VERMONT 




1914 



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D. SF 0, 
NOV 23 J9U 



THE VERMONT PRINTING COMPANY, BRATTLEBORO 



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CONTENTS 

FAOK 

I. Introduction 1 

II. Summary 5 

III. The Common Schools 9 

1. Elementary SchooLs 14 

2. Secondary Schools 21 

3. The School Term 31 

IV. Specially Incorporated Districts 33 
V. County Grammar Schools and Grammar School Lands 34 

VI. Vocational Education 35 

VII. Training of Teachers and Supervision 43 

VIII. Agencies for Administration 50 

IX. University of Vermont and State Agricultural College 56 

1. Its Character — Public or Private 56 

2. Use of Federal Appropriations 91 

3. The College of Medicine. 119 

X. MiDDLEBURY CoLLEGE 123 

XI. Norwich University 125 

XII. Duplication 128 

XIII. The State and Higher Education 132 

XIV. Financial Support of Schools 137 

1. History of State School Funds 137 

2. Appropriations and Distribution of Expense. 140 



I 

INTRODUCTION 

To His Excellency, Allen M. Fletcher, 

Governor of the State of Vermont: 

On the eighth day of November, 1912, by communications to the Senate and 
House of Representatives, Your Excellency submitted to their consideration cer- 
tain suggestions regarding public education and recommended the creation of an 
Educational Commission charged with the duty of making inquiry thereinto for 
the purpose of securing legislation for such reorganization of the elementary and 
secondary public schools of the state, in adjustment to the entire educational 
system of the state, as would promote the ends of economy, harmony and unity. 
In view of the constant requests of our institutions of higher learning for increas- 
ing state appropriations for their support and maintenance and the importance 
that the status of these institutions in their relations to the state should be clearly 
and speedily estaljlished, it \yas your further recommendation that such Educational 
Commission be required to report on the several necessities of the University of 
Vermont and State Agricultural College, Middlebury College and Norwich Uni- 
versity, with such suggestions as would prevent unnecessary duplication. 

Pursuant to your communications the General Assembly enacted the follow- 
ing joint resolution: — 

"Whereas, a doubt has arisen in the minds of many of those most intimately 
related to the secondary and elementary schools of the state as to the efSciency 
of our common school system, and 

"Whereas, a similar doubt prevails among many friends of higher education 
regarding the adequacy of the return which the state is getting from its appro- 
priations in aid thereof, and 

"Whereas, His Excellencj', the Governor, has recommended in a recent message 
the appointment of a commission to investigate and report on these matters; 
Therefore it is hereby 

"Resolved by the Seriate and Hovse of Representatives: That a commission of 
nine persons, at least two of whom shall be experts in or engaged in educational 
work, shall be appointed I)y the Governor to inquire into the entire educational 
system and condition of this state. This commission shall report at the earliest 
possible date on the several rights, duties and obligations of the University of 
Vermont and State Agricultural College, Middlebury College and Norwich Uni- 
versity with such recommendations as will prevent unnecessary duplication and 
consequent financial waste. 



2 INTRODUCTION 

"Resolved, That as soon as practicable after reporting on the institutions of 
higher learning hereinbefore referred to, the said commission shall recommend, 
by bill or otherwise, such reorganization of our public elementary and secondary 
schools, in adjustment to the entire educational system of the state, as will pro- 
mote the ends of unity, harmony, economy and efficiency. 

"Resolved, That the members of said commission shall serve without pay, but 
they shall be paid by the state their necessary expenses on requisitions to be ap- 
proved by the Governor and chairman of said commission, and the Auditor of Ac- 
counts shall draw orders therefor. Said commission may employ expert assis- 
tance and include the expense thereof in said requisitions." This resolution was 
approved November 19, 1912. 

Later by section 14, of Number 83, of Laws of 1912, approved February 15, 
1913, it was enacted that, "the several rights, duties and obligations of said col- 
leges shall be determined by said Commission." 

The undersigned, by your appointment members of the Commission to Investi- 
gate the Educational System and Conditions of Vermont, (herein styled "Commis- 
sion") created by said joint resolution, respectfully report as follows: 

The first meeting of the Commission was held Thursday, December 12, 1912, 
and an organization effected. George L. Hunt, of Montpelier, was chosen clerk 
of the Commission. Early in its work it became clear to the Commission that in 
the proper performance of its duties, the entire educational system and conditions 
of the state could receive adequate consideration only as a unit. It was clear, too, 
that just conclusions could be drawn only from right premises and that these pre- 
mises could be stated only after a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the 
facts relating to the state's educational system and conditions. By its resolution 
the General Assembly authorized the Commission to employ expert assistance and 
it seemed not only proper, but also necessary that a body of experts, and not merely 
individual expert investigators, be called upon to assist in assembling facts mater- 
ial and relevant to the problems submitted to the Commission. To this end, there- 
fore, the Commission, by a resolution adopted on the 24th day of February, 1913, 
authorized an educational survey of the state and appointed Dr. Henry S. Pritch- 
ett, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 
to undertake this survey with .such assistance and cooperation as he might de- 
termine. It seemed essential, too, that those to make the survey should be en- 
tirely disinterested as between persons or institutions to be affected by its results. 
The Commission wanted the facts: to hew to the line and let the chips fall wlien 
they would in its seeking after the truth of the educational conditions of the state. 
At the outset Dr. Pritchett and his lieutenants in the survey were made aware of 
this requirement. 

The administrative and educational experience of Dr. Pritchett, who was for- 
merly President of the Mas.sachusetts Institute of Technology and before that 
Superintendent of the United States Coasl and Geodetic Survey, gave assurance 



INTRODUCTION 3 

of a thorough-going and appreciative insight into our educational system and the 
choice by him of men well fitted by training and association to assist in the work 
of the survey. Dr. Clyde Furst, the Secretary of the Carnegie Foundation, was 
formerly a professor in and secretary of the faculty of Teachers College, Columbia 
University. Mr. Monell Sayre, a Harvard man and a graduate in law, is a spe- 
cialist in college charters, pensions, and in agricultural education. Dr. Alfred Z. 
Reed, a graduate of Harvard and a Doctor of Philosophy of Columbia Uni- 
versity, is an expert on the staff of the Carnegie Foundation. Professor 
Edward C. Elliott, who gave particular attention in the survey to the general 
organization of public education and to the training of teachers, is the head of the 
department of education in the University of Wisconsin and has been connected 
with educational surveys throughout the country. Professor Milo B. Hillegas, 
who studied particularly the elementary schools of the state, is a professor in the 
field of elementary education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and was 
formerly editor of the publications of the United States Bureau of Education. Dr. 
William S. Learned, who i)aid particular attention in the' survey to secondarj' 
education, a graduate of Brown UniAcrsity and a Doctor of Philosophy at Harvard, 
was formerly engaged in the experimental study of education conducted by Har- 
vard in connection with the schools of Newton, Massachusetts, and is now an 
expert on the regular staff of the Carnegie Foundation. Professor Edward N. 
Farrington, who has been giving particular attention to the study of agricultural 
education, is the head of the department of dairying at the University of Wiscon- 
sin, and has been the instrument of nuiltiplying the dairying in that state several 
fold. Professor George R. Olshausen, who directed his attention to the study of 
engineering education in the stale, has been professor of engineering in the Wor- 
cester Polytechnic Institute and in Washington University, Saint Louis. Dr. 
Nathaniel Bowditch Potter, a professor of medicine in the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons of Columbia University, gave his attention to the study of medical 
education. Mr. William Leslie, head of the firm of Leslie & Company, chartered 
accountants of New York, studied the subject of school accounts and accounting. 

In the gathering of facts these men worked along the line of their particular 
subjects; in the assembling and corelation of the minutiae of fact thus obtained, 
they were collaborators in the work of the survey. At frequent conferences of 
those engaged in the survey, each was required to reconcile his views with the 
views of the others and to draw his conclusions from the findings of all. The 
result of their labors is set forth in the report of the Carnegie Foundation for the 
Advancement of Teaching to the Commission hereto attached. 

Beyond the survey so provided, the Commission sought in divers ways to learn 
the facts relating to Vermont's educational system and conditions. In the further- 
ance of the work of the survey, by inquiries addressed to each teacher in the public 
schools and principals of secondary schools, it secured information respecting the 
teaching staff and the work of the elementary and secondary schools, and by as- 



4 INTRODUCTION 

sembling the .scliool registers of the different towns and cities in the state it assisted 
in the study oi' school attendance. It sought and obtained from over two thousand 
citizens of the state — union and town superintendents of schools, principals and 
teachers, school directors, and men and women of standing in their respective com- 
munities in no way connected with the schools — their views concerning the edu- 
cational conditions of the state. On January 9, 1913, the Commission held a public 
meeting in Representatives' Hall, at which all present were given opportunity 
to speak on those matters submitted to it relating to the elementary and secon- 
dary schools. During the month of June, 1913, the Commis.sion visited the Uni- 
versity of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Middlebury College and Nor- 
wich University for the purpose of seeing what might be shown and hearing what 
might be said in addition to the matters and things set forth in briefs already re- 
ceived from them in response to the Commission's request therefor, by which 
each of these institutions was given an opportunity to show: (1) The functions, 
rights, duties, and obligations of the particular institution in any wise respecting 
or pertaining to the State of Vermont ; (2) The relation, if any, of these three insti- 
tutions to each other; (3) All facts, historical or otherwise, pertaining to said insti- 
tutions, or any of them, upon which the particular institution bases its claim to 
assistance from, or support by, the State of Vermont. The Commission also visi- 
ted at this time, and inspected, the State Normal Schools at Castleton and Johnson 
and the State Agricultural School at Randolph, and examined Mr. Vail's agricul- 
tural school at Lyndonville. On August 12, 1913, certain citizens and represen- 
tatives of organizations of Addison and Rutland counties interested in agricul- 
tural education met and addressed the Commission at Burlington on the question of 
the need of agricultural schools through the state. On March 6, 1914, the Com- 
mission extended a further hearing to the University of Vermont and State Agricul- 
tural College. President Guy Potter Benton, Dean Henry C. Tinkham, Treasurer 
C. P. Smith, Chief Justice George M. Powers, Honorable Robert Roberts and 
Honorable E. C. Mower, Trustees, appeared in behalf of that institution and the 
Commission was addressed by President Benton, Chief Justice Powers, Treasurer 
Smith and Mr. Roberts. On March 20, 1914, a like hearing was extended to Norwich 
University and Middlebury College. In behalf of the former. President Charles 
H. Spooner and Colonel Fred B. Thomas addressed the Commission. President 
John M. Thomas and Honorable Frank C. Partridge, Fellow, addressed the Com- 
mission in behalf of Middlebury College. Furthermore, members of the Commis- 
sion, by individual inquiry, have sought and obtained information respecting the 
state's educational conditions. Not alone upon the report of the Carnegie Foun- 
dation, therefore, but upon the knowledge and information obtained in the ways 
set forth, the Commission bases its conclusions and makes its recommendations. 
It is the i)urpose of the Commission in its report to deal with the educational 
policies of the state, including regulations nece.s.sary to their effecti\'e operation, 
and with details of fact as may be necessary to make plain the matters and things 



SUMIVIARY 5 

recommended; and to deal with facts pertaining to the institutions of higher learn- 
ing only so far as such facts shall bear on recommendations to be made concerning 
them, or so far as shall be necessary to the determination of their several rights, 
duties, and obligations. 

II 
SUMMARY 

As a foreword, the Commission deems it wise to set forth briefly the following 
sunmiary of its conclusions and recommendations: 

Under our Constitution schools must be competent in number and in instruc- 
tion convenient for the youth, a sovereign duty of the commonwealth to all its 
youth, a duty always recognized by the judicial department of the government and 
in a large measure performed by the legislative department of the government. 
\\'ith the changes in the social and economic life of the people that have occurred 
since the founding of the state, these fundamental requirements of law respecting 
schools have been to some degree overlooked, and present defects in the system of 
public schools are due almost wholly to the failure to adapt such requirements to 
modern conditions. 

Elementary Schools 

In the elementary schools such a want of adaptation is especially apparent in 
the rural schools, not only in their distribution throughout the state but in the 
quality of their work. The Commission recommends that rural schools, so far as 
practicable, be consolidated and that their courses of study be revised to the end 
that the instructions given, not only in method but in content, may be suited to 
the daily life and environment of the youth. 



Secondary Schools 

Tliis lack of adaptation appears more prominentlj' in the state's secondary schools, 
due to the fact that the secondary schools are not closely' related to the elementary 
schools and that, for the benefit of about one-tenth of the youth of secondary- 
school age, they are chiefly preparatory schools for higher education and not, for 
the benefit of the remaining nine-tenths of the secondarj'-school youth, finishing 
schools for life. To restore the secondary- schools to their rightful place as a part 
of the public school system, closely related to the elementary schools, and agencies 
for the convenient instruction of all the youth of the state, the Commission recom- 
mends a change in the point of division between them and the elementary schools 
as follows: 



6 SUMMARY 

(a) That there should be a junior high school maintained in everj' town in the 
state (unless by arrangement an academy in town is in effect the high school of the 
town) where the number of secondary-school youth to be conveniently accommodated 
shall reasonably warrant it, having (in the language of the Carnegie Foundation's 
report, page 109), "a four-year curriculum, elastic in administration, but limited in 
scope by the numbers and needs of the local boys and girls 12 to 16 years of age, 
covering the seventh and eighth grades of the present elementary school and the 
first two years of the present high school," with equipment appropriate to the 
curriculum presented; 

(b) That there should be as many central and readily accessible senior high 
schools, articulating directly with all the neighboring junior high schools, as the 
number of pupils desiring the advanced instruction given only in this class of schools, 
shall reasonably demand, the number and locations to be determined by the board 
of education. These should have: (a) A four-year junior curriculum as in the 
junior high schools, "but including special vocational opportunities, particularly 
in agriculture, for pupils from 12 to 16 years of age;" (b) A curriculum appropri- 
ate to the youth of 17 to 19 years of age, drawn from the surrounding districts, 
who are fitting for college, or are completing a course of general education. This 
class of schools should have adequate equipment for all purposes within the 
curricula. 

The Commission finds that by increasing the length of the school term to thirty- 
six weeks — about the average for the country — nearly two full school years of the 
present length will be added to the public schooling of the youth; and the Commis- 
sion recommends such an increase. 

The Commission also recommends that all specially incorporated school districts 
be dissolved and that such districts be brought under the operation of general laws 
common to all parts of the state. 



Vocational Education 

The Commission believes that the vocational needs of the state are mainly 
agricultural and that vocational education should be emphatically directed to the 
training of the youth of the state in scientifically practical agriculture. 

The Commission's recommendations respecting vocational education may be 
summarized as follows: — 

1. The instruction in the public .schools to be of that character to educate the 
youth toward the occupations of the communities in which they live. 

2. The establishment in the junior high schools of .semi-vocational courses offer- 
ing opportunities for instruction in commercial subjects, domestic science, manual 



SUMMARY 7 

training, and agriculture, appropriate to the needs and environment of the partic- 
ular school. 

3. The establishment in the senior high schools of high grade courses in agricul- 
ture, together with courses in manual training, commercial subjects and domestic 
science. 

4. The strengthening of the equipment and teaching stafiF of the State Agricul- 
tural School and the increase of its appropriations; and the development therein of 
courses in manual training, incident to agricultural training, and in some measure 
fitting for the pursuit of the manual trades as vocations. 

5. State appropriations, to be expended under an arrangement with the Uni- 
versity of Vermont and State Agricultural College, for the purpose of: (a) Train- 
ing teachers in agriculture for the high schools; (6) Cooperating with the Federal 
extension work in agriculture. 



Training of Teachers 

The discontinuance of the normal schools at Castleton and Johnson and the de- 
velopment of the training courses in the secondary schools, for the training of 
teachers for the elementary schools and the earlier years of the junior high schools, 
is recommended. By reason of the peculiar value to Vermont of secondary-school 
teachers trained in the state, the Commission recommends that provision for the 
training of such teachers be made through an arrangement by the state board of 
education with Middlebury College;and that provision for the training of secondary- 
school teachers of agriculture for the senior high schools and the State Agricultural 
School be made through an arrangement by the state board of education with the 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College. 



Administration 

The Commission recommends agencies for administration adequate to the op- 
eration of the public school system under the proposed reorganization. 



State Aid to Higher Education 

The Commission finds that all institutions of higher learning within the state 
are private institutions and not entitled of right to state aid. The Commis- 
sion finds that Vermont should not give financial aid to institutions of higher 
learning until it has performed its full constitutional duty to its public schools, 
and that all state aid to such institutions, for the present at least, should be extended 
only in return for the performance by such institutions of some specific service 



8 SUMMARY 

needed by the state in the carrying out of its policies respecting the elementarj- and 
the secondary schools. The Commission finds that the state, in proportion to its 
property valuation, has been making appropriations to higher education far be- 
yond those made by any other of the New England states or by the state of New 
York. In proportion to its property valuation Vermont is appropriating to insti- 
tutions of higher education 1.7 times the appropriation of Maine, nearly three 
times the appropriation of Connecticut, more than four times the appropriation 
of New Hampshire, more than eight times the aj)propriation of Massachusetts, 
more than nine times the appropriation of Ehode Island, more than thirty-four 
times the appropriation of New York; and if appropriations in New York, by way 
of scholarships, provided by recent legislation, are included in the maximum amount 
provided by such legislation, still Vermont is appropriating more than twenty- 
eight times the appropriation of New York. 

The Commission finds that in so discontinuing state aid to higher education 
the state is in no way laying itself open to a charge of failure of duty to its youth 
and that a continuance of such appropriations in present amount would be a gross 
neglect of such duty under the Constitution. 



Use of Federal Appropriations by the University 
OF Vermont and State Agricultural College 

The Federal appropriations to land-grant colleges for instruction in agriculture 
and mechanic arts are owned by the state and have been expended by the Univer- 
sity of Vermont and State Agricultural College in the carrying out of the provisions 
of the trust imposed upon such appropriations. The Commission does not find 
that in the expenditure of the appropriations received under the first Morrill Act 
(1862), and the Acts of Congress pertaining to agricultural experiment stations, 
the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College has deviated from the 
course contemplated by those acts. The Commission finds, however, that in the 
expenditure of the appropriations received under the Acts of Congress of 1890 
and 1907, the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College has departed 
from the true spirit, intent, and meaning of such trust, in this, that said institu- 
tion has not expended said funds in instruction in the branches named in said acts 
with special reference to their applications in the industries of life, as they exist in 
this state, and to the facilities for such instruction, as required, in that a dispropor- 
tionately small part thereof has been applied to agricidture, Vermont's predomina- 
ting industry of life. 

Ways and Means 
The financial support of schools is discussed and recommendations made. 



Ill 

THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

In an investigation of the entire educational system and conditions of the state, 
no one part of the system can be treated separate from the others. They are all 
parts of one structure and the foundation upon which it rests is the first and most 
important subject of investigation. Of what value is a superstructure reared upon 
sand? Towers and turrets must be broadly bedded in rock. Unquestionably 
that part of our educational system that pertains to the elementary schools is the 
foundation of the whole. It must first be made sound. This done, the upper 
reaches of the structure must be brought into harmony not only with the lower 
walls but with the environment in which it rests. As the environment of one 
state differs from that of another, so environment within the state varies. Al- 
though Vermont has no large cities, there is necessarily a difference between urban 
and rural environment within her borders, and her natural conformation is respon- 
sible for marked differences of environment in her rural sections. Some of the 
farming districts are more thickly settled and easily accessible, others are remote 
and sparsely populated. No particular section of the state can be considered alone. 
The state must be considered as a whole. Her educational system of organiza- 
tion is the town system. The Commission here undertakes to deal with that 
system, and by way of change in regulations, and a reorganization, to promote 
educational advantages throughout the state. That regulations can be had that 
wUl operate to the equal advantage of all, regardless of circumstances and condi- 
tions, is too much to expect. Yet such advantages can be afforded to an approxi- 
mate and reasonable degree by properly applying the just and fundamental prin- 
ciple that regard must be had to securing the greatest possible accommodation 
and advantage to the greatest number of inhabitants, though it may necessitate 
more exertion on the part of the smaller number to avail themselves of the oppor- 
tunities offered 

For a proper view of the educational system and conditions of Vermont regard 
must be had to the state's sovereign duties and obligations. The Declaration of 
the Rights of the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont, a part of the Constitution, 
declares that all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natu- 
ral, inherent, and unaUenable rights, among which are the enjoying and defend- 
ing hfe, and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; and pursuing 
and obtaining happiness and safety; that the people of the state, by the legal rep- 
resentatives, have the sole, exclusive, and inherent right of governing and regu- 
lating the internal police of the same; that government is or ought to be, instituted 
for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community; 
and not for the particular emolument or advantage of any single man, family, or 
set of men, who are a part only of that community; that frequent recurrence to 
fundamental principles, and a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance. 



10 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

industry and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty, 
and keej) government free. 

In providing organic machinery for the application of these basic principles of 
law to the government of the state, the fathers of the constitution were well aware 
that the public good, the public welfare, and the public convenience were consid- 
erations of first importance, that the encouragement of virtue and the prevention 
of vice and immorality would go far toward securing an adequate regulation of 
the internal police of the state, and that for the gaining of these ends nothing was 
more potent than the proper instruction of the youth. 

The first Constitution of the State (1777). Chapter II, Section 40, reads: — 

"A School or Schools .shall be established in each town by the Legislature, for 
the convenient Instruction of Youth, with such Salaries to the masters, paid by 
each town, making proper Use of School-lands in each town, thereby to enable 
them to instruct Youth at low Prices: — One Grammar School in each County, 
and one University in this State, ought to be established by Direction of the Gen- 
eral Assembly." 

Section 41 reads: — 

"Laws for the Encouragement of Virtue, and Prevention of Vice and Immorality, 
shall be made, and kept constantly in force; and Provision shall be made for their 
due Execution: And all religious Societies, or bodies of men, that have, or may be 
hereafter united and incorporated, for the Advancement of Religion and Learn- 
ing, or for other pious and charitable Purposes, shall be encouraged and protected 
in the Enjoyment of the Privileges Immunities and Estates, which they in justice 
ought to enjoy, under such Regulations as the General Assembly of this State 
shall direct." 

In the Constitution of 1786, some of the foregoing provisions were dropped out, 
and the two sections united into section 38, reading as follows: — 

"Laws for the encouragement of virtue, and prevention of vice and immorality, 
ought to be constantly kept in force, and duly executed : and a competent number 
of schools ought to be maintained in each town, for the convenient instruction of 
youth; and one or more grammar schools be incorporated, and properly supported, 
in each county in this State. And all religious societies, or bodies of men, that 
may be hereafter united or incorporated, for the advancement of religion and learn- 
ing, or for other pious and charitable purposes, shall be encouraged and protected, 
in the enjoyment of the privileges, immunities, and estates, which they in justice 
ought to enjoy, under such regulations as the General Assembly of this State shall 
direct." 

Without change in substance, these provisions have hitherto remained a part 
of the organic law of the state. Whatever may have been the contemplated char- 
acter (public or private) of the grammar schools mentioned in the Constitution 
of 1777, it .seems clear that the grammar schools mentioned in the section quoted 
from the Constitution of 1786, to "be incorporated, and properly supported, in 



THE COMMON SCHOOLS 11 

each county," were, in contemplation, like academies, simply private institutions. 

Within the succeeding twenty-five years, at least one of these county grammar 
schools in each county, except perhaps Grand Isle, was incorporated and supported 
by the state by way of the "Grammar School Lands" in the same county, granted 
to'it by the General Assembly to hold and lease for its use and benefit. There seems 
never to have been any statute giving such schools public support by way of tax- 
ation or otherwise, in addition to that derived from the "Grammar School Lands." 
These lands are more particularly noticed in another connection. 

The clause of the Constitution, then, essential to our consideration at this time 
is the one reading, "A competent number of schools ought to be maintained in 
each town, for the convenient instruction of youth." 

It will be noticed that by this clause of the Constitution schools must be com- 
petent in number, and in instruction must be convenient for the youth. In the 
judgment of the Commission, the word "competent" as there used, means "ade- 
quate, sufficient," and the word "convenient," as there used, means "affording 
accommodation, advantage." This is in accordance with the contemporaneous 
practical construction given by the legislature from the time of the adoption of 
the Constitution of 1786 to the time when the district system was abolished and 
the town system adopted in 1892, more than a century; a construction that has 
been acquiesced in and accepted as correct by the highest court of the state. Call- 
ing attention to the statutes and the declarations of the court, in this respect, 
should be quite sufficient to convince one of the accuracy of the construction here 
given. By statute passed March 3, 1787, towns that could not be conveniently 
accommodated by one school, were given power to divide into so many districts 
as they should find convenient. The Revision of 1797 (one of the revisors being 
Nathaniel Chipman, recently referred to by the late Chief Justice Rowell as "That 
great lawyer * * * who was prominently active in public affairs during the forma- 
tive period of the Constitution, and must have been imbued with its spirit and 
meaning"). Chapter LIV, Section 1, reads: 

"It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, That each 
organized town in this state, shall keep and support a school or schools for the 
instruction of youth, in English reading, writing and arithmetic; and the inhabi- 
tants of such towns, in which the youth cannot conveniently be accommodated 
with one school, are hereby empowered at a legal meeting notified for that purpose, 
by vote or otherwise, to divide such towns into as many school districts as they 
shall judge most convenient, which districts may, in like manner, be altered from 
time to time, as occasion may require. * * * " 

And the statute (R. L. 499) relating to that subject, which was repealed at the 
time of the adoption of the town system, reads: 

"When the inhabitants of a town can not be conveniently accommodated in 
one district, such town shall, at a meeting warned for the purpose, divide the 
town into several districts and determine their limits." 



12 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

In 1860, the Supreme Court, (in Williams v. School District No. 6, in Newfane, 
33 Vt. 271) speaking through Judge Luke P. Poland, said: 

"From the earliest period in this State, the proper education of all the children 
of its inhabitants has been regarded as a matter of vital interest to the State, a 
duty which devolved upon its govermnent, and which should be fulfilled at the 
public expense. 

"The constitution of the State especially enjoins upon the legislature the duty of 
passing laws to carry out this object, and declares that a competent number of 
schools ought to be maintained in each town, for the convenient instruction of 
youth. 

"The legislature of the State, in obedience to this injunction of the constitution, 
have from the first, taken this subject in hand, and provided by law for the support 
of schools at the public expense, and it has always been understood to be one of 
the first and highest duties of the government. 

"In order to attain and effectuate this wise and beneficial purpose, it was neces- 
sary that some system should be devised by which the State should be divided 
into such convenient territorial sub-divisions as would bring schools within reach 
of all its inhabitants. 

"It was therefore early provided by law, that each town should keep and maintain 
at least one school within its limits, and when all the inhabitants of any town 
could not conveniently be accommodated at one school, it was made the duty 
of such town to divide the town into such number of school districts as would be 
convenient for the inhabitants. 



"Without making further reference to the almost numberless acts of the legisla- 
ture, exhibiting the most active watchfulness and fostering care, for the cause of 
popular education, enough has already been stated to show that the whole subject 
of the maintenance and support of common schoo s has ever been regarded in 
this State as one not only oi public usefulness, but of public necessity, and one 
which the State in its sovereign character was bound to sustain." 

Again in 1894, that court, (in Town of Barre v. School District No. 13 in Barre, 
67 Vt. 108) speaking through Chief Judge Ross, said that by the law of 1892, 
adopting the town system, the several school districts theretofore existing in the 
towns, ceased to exist, "except for the settlement of their pecuniary affairs," and 
each town was made into a single district for school purposes; that "It is still the 
policy of the state to educate all its youth. They are still its beneficiaries." 

If anything were necessary to lend emphasis to the policy thus declared to 
furnish an education to all the youth of the state, it may be had from the facts 
that in the charters of the towns, land, aggregating more than a hundred thousand 
acres, was reserved for the support of the town schools; that in 1794 the legislature 



THE COMMON SCHOOLS 13 

passed an act declaring that the lands in the state theretofore granted by the 
British government "to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts" (a British corporation), by reason of the "late Revolution" became vested 
in the state; and that "whereas it appears to this legislature, that said lands might 
be more useful, if granted for the purpose of education, than in any other way,"- — 
the said several rights of land were then granted severally to the respective towns 
in which such lands lie, to their respective uses forever, for school purposes; that 
in 1805 an act was passed, declaring the several glebe-rights in this state, granted 
by the British government to the Church of England, to be in the nature of public 
reserves, and that as such they became vested by the Revolution in the sovereignty 
of the state, by which act the said rights were severally granted to the respective 
towns in which the lands lie, to their respective use and uses forever, for school 
purposes; that in 1825 the amount of the avails accrued to the state from the "late 
Vermont State Bank" were by act of the legislature sequestered and granted to the 
respective towns in this state "for the benefit of common schools, and to no other 
use; to be managed as a school fund, agreeably to the provisions in this act, * * *" 
By the same act the amount of state's funds accruing from six per cent on the net 
profits of state banks, and accrued from licenses to peddlers should be sequestered 
and granted to the respective towns in the state for the same purpose, and to be 
managed in the same way — all these moneys to constitute a "state school fund" 
to be invested in the securities there stated, "in order that the same may be a 
productive and accumulating fund." It was therein further provided that this 
accumulating school fund should not be diminished, improved, or appropriated 
to the use of schools, until the amount of principal should increase to a sum suffi- 
cient to yield an annual profit and interest "adequate to defray the current expenses 
of keeping a good, free, common school in each district in the respective towns, for 
the period of two months in each and every year." It does not lessen the signifi- 
cance of these early statutes that in 1845, all of the laws respecting this "state 
school fund" were repealed and all the moneys, securities, etc., constituting "the 
state school fund," were transferred to and made the property of the state. 

The fact that the Constitution requires an opportunity for the instruction of 
youth in the common schools in each town, does not prevent the legislature from 
adopting regulations that will, in some circumstances, require at public expense 
their instruction in advanced studies outside the town. 

Legislation of this character was had as early as 1894 (No. 19), and laws to that 
effect have ever since existed. This is noticed more particularly further on, in 
connection with our discussion of high schools. For the better understanding of 
the essential elements entering into the regulations pertaining to the school system 
as we proceed, however, we deem it necessary to state here that the educational 
system of the state includes not only the proper instruction of the youth in pubUc 
elementary schools, but in public high schools also, when pupils are fitted therefor, 
and desire it; that a general classification distinguishing these two grades of in- 



14 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

struction has more or less broadly existed under the statute for more than seventy 
years; that at the present time the high schools are sub-classified; and that in this 
report such a general classification, and subclass divisions respecting both the 
elementary schools and the high schools, are made, as seem based upon reasonable 
grounds and requisite to more effective practical operation. 



1. Elementary Schools 

No. 20, Acts of 1892, (making the town system compulsory), Section 5, reads: 

"Said board of school directors shall have the care of the school property of the 
town and the management of its schools, determine the number and location of 
its schools, * * *" 

Section 6 reads : 

"In every town there shall be kept for at least twenty-six weeks in each year, at 
the expense of said town, * * * a sufficient number of schools for the instruction 
of all the children who may legally attend all the public schools therein; * * * 

"Said schools shall be within the limits of said town, and at such places, and 
held at such times as, in the judgment of the board of directors, will best subserve 
the interests of education and give all the scholars of the town as nearly equal 
advantages as may be practicable; and said school board may use a portion of the 
school money, not exceeding 25 per cent, thereof, for the purpose of conveying 
scholars to and from such schools." 

In the respects mentioned, the present statutory provisions are substantially 
the same, except that thirty weeks of school is required and the board of school 
directors is authorized to designate the school which shall be attended by the 
various pupils, and may, in its discretion, provide conveyance for pupils, or may 
pay a reasonable sum for their board while in attendence upon school. 

A careful examination of our statute law regulating public instruction under the 
present system seems to satisfy one that not much heed is given to the requirements 
of the Constitution, that a competent number of schools shall be had, affording 
convenient accommodation to the youth. These provisions are fundamental 
principles safeguarding the educational advantages of the children of the state. 
Formerly, their observance was by way of dividing the town into as many school 
districts as were necessary to effect the purpose, the maintenance of a school being 
required in each district. The town now being all in one school district, observance 
of those provisions must be had by the requisite number and the proper locations 
of separate schools in that district. 

By the terms of this statute, in the judgment of the Commission, the board of 
school directors may locate the schools upon a basis that does not include the 
constitutional element of convenience to the youth. By the constitutional pro- 
vision, to which reference has been made, the rule or standard is fixed by which the 



ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 15 

number and the location of schools are to be determined, and thereby equal educa- 
tional advantages to the youth throughout the town, as far as the conditions and 
circumstances will reasonably permit, are guaranteed. The discretion of the 
board of school directors in these respects must be exercised within the bounds of 
reason, ever guided by the rule or standard so fixed. A statute, therefore, by the 
terms of which the location of schools may be made by the board of school direct- 
ors without the consideration of such rule or standard, leaves too much room for 
the play and action of power, purely personal and arbitrary. To say the least, it 
jeopardizes rights which should be guarded and held sacred as within the ever 
declared educational policy of the state. 

It should seem that the due observance of this right, and indeed the general 
welfare of the people, demand that by statute the elementary schools be suflBcient 
in number, and of such quality, and severally so located in the towns, as to furnish 
adequate and reasonably convenient opportunity for the children to receive such 
instruction in the fundamental branches as shall qualify them for entrance in the 
secondary schools, if study therein be contemplated, or together with subsequent 
vocational training (more particularly discussed under that head), shall give them 
to some appreciable degree a practical fit for their intended lives' work and for the 
proper performance, in the true sense, of the ordinary duties of American citizen- 
ship. And the furnishing of educational facilities being of state concern, the 
statute may well provide that in thus locating schools, town lines shall be deemed 
of secondary importance. 

It may be said that the locating of the elementary schools in accordance with 
the above recommendations works a substantial departure from the idea of cen- 
tralization, the one principle of the town system relied upon more than any other 
as tending to efficiency in instruction, and to economy in expense. True it is that 
centralization of elementary, as well as secondary schools, is desirable on both of the 
grounds mentioned, if not carried so far as, in practical operation, to work a sub- 
stantial violation of the guaranteed coordinated rights of competency in number 
and of convenience in educational advantages, or to prevent such a classification 
of the schools as is essential to the general welfare of the state, or to make the matter 
of expense of the schools, instead of their suitableness to the public need, the con- 
trolling element of consideration. A statute regulating the number and location 
of elementary schools in the several towns should not "leave room for the play and 
action of purely personal and arbitrary power." It was said long ago by one of 
the greatest jurists this country has produced, and quoted with approval by the 
highest court in the land (in Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356), "That in all cases 
where the Constitution has conferred a political right or privilege, and where the 
Constitution has not particularly designated the manner in which that right is to 
be exercised, it is clearly within the just and constitutional limits of the legislative 
power, to adopt any reasonable and uniform regulations, in regard to the time and 
mode of exercising that right, which are designed to secure and facilitate the exer- 



16 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

cise of such right, in a prompt, orderly and convenient manner;" but "Such a 
construction would afford no warrant for such an exercise of legislative power as, 
under the pretense and color of regulating, should subvert or injuriously restrain 
the right itself." 

The reasons why the elementary schools should be located in accordance with 
the recommendations made above are cogent and, in the judgment of the Com- 
mission, so forcible as to exclude any other conclusion on reasonable grounds. By 
the statute, as before seen, public schools are divided into two classes, the elemen- 
tary and the secondary. No one can well say that such a classification (leaving 
the point of division to be discussed later) is not based upon a sufficient difference 
existing in the ages, needs, and acquirements of the youth, nor that the difference 
in requirements as to the number and location of the schools so classified, is not 
well founded in the large number of youth to be provided for in the schools of the 
one class and the comparatively small number to be provided for in the schools 
of the other class. It is a common principle that a classification may properly be 
made, and, for the practical and efficient operation of the educational system, should 
be made, when it is based upon some difference having a reasonable and just rela- 
tion to the object sought, in this instance, to the education of the youth, giving 
such reasonably convenient accommodations as the conditions and the circum- 
stances in the particular town may require, without unequal and unjust discrimina- 
tion, considering the location, conditions, and need of the inhabitants, in the 
advantages afforded. Speaking generally, the interests of the inhabitants in the 
rural sections pertain more particularly to agriculture. The children there are 
reared in an agricultural atmosphere, consequently nothing is more natural than 
that their ideas are so developed and their characters so molded as most likely to 
result in their lives' work being in the line of agricultural pursuits; while in the 
thickly settled centers of population the interests of the people are in character 
largely manufacturing, commercial, clerical, or professional. By the principle of 
adaptation, the development of a child is strikingly in accordance with the influence 
of his environment. The children in such centers of population are reared amid 
surroundings and conditions so different from those obtaining in the rural sections, 
that the tendencies there created are not toward the business of farming, but 
towards vocations so dissimilar to it as to require, outside of the ordinary funda- 
mental branches necessarily common to all, special preparations therefor. Weigh- 
ing these matters according to their importance, the one fair and just conclusion 
is that there should be in every town as many elementary schools, both rural and 
urban, as the number of children of the ages and acquirements necessitating their 
reasonably convenient accommodation shall require; with provisions, as above 
mentioned, permitting the location of schools, in certain circumstances, so as to 
afford convenient accommodation to youth from an adjoining town as well. It 
seems to the Commission that nothing short of this will fairly meet the contempla- 
tion of the provisions of the organic law of the state respecting this class of schools, 



ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 17 

and that nothing short of this will do approximately equal justice to all of the in- 
habitants of the towns, those of the rural communities as well as those of the thickly 
settled villages and cities. 

By Public Statutes (sec. 1027, as amended by Acts of 1910, No. 69, sec. 1), "The 
words 'legal pupils' shall include persons between the ages of five and eighteen 
years, but no person over five years of age shall be deprived of public school advan- 
tages on account of age." Under the present general classification mentioned 
above, the first eight years are within the elementary class, and all subsequent 
thereto are supposed to be within the secondary class. 

It appears from the facts reported to the Commission, that the number of children 
in the state within the school age thus fixed, is about 83,000, of which approximately 
57,000 are attending the elementary schools; that "Taking the national census as 
a basis, and assuming the ages from 15 to 18, inclusive, to be the normal ages" of 
children for secondary schooling, approximately 77 per cent never receive instruc- 
tion in any school above the elementary; that 54 per cent of the children live in 
the country — outside the villages and cities, the large centers of population; that 
nearly 95 per cent of them are native born; and that comparatively few children 
enter school before six, and almost none remain in the elementary schools after 
sixteen years of age. 

It is the belief of the Commission that Vermont cannot at present, on any sound 
and reasonable basis, be considered otherwise than an agricultural state. Though 
true it is that manufacturing industries will probably increase as the water powers 
in the state are more and more developed and utilized through the application of 
modern agencies, naturally resulting in enlarging the centers of settlement, yet it 
may be said, without fear of successful contradiction, that with the school system 
reorganized in a way to afford suitable and reasonably convenient instruction to 
the youth within the atmosphere of their own environments, as it should be in order 
to meet the fundamental requirements, governing public education in this state, 
agriculture may fairly be expected to hold its own in the race for predominance for 
many years to come. 

It follows from the above, that the relative industrial importance of the agri- 
cultural interests as one class, and the other interests of the state as another class, 
is such that each of the two classes is entitled to thoughtful consideration in solving 
the problem particularly connected with the elementary schools. 

The boys and girls of today are the fathers and mothers of tomorrow, and upon 
them depend the future civic life, the prosperity, and the industrial standing of the 
state. Any educational regulation, therefore, the natural tendency of which is to 
draw the boys and girls, bred and born to the farm, permanently away from it, or 
the natural tendency of which is to draw the boys and girls, bred and born to 
other industrial pursuits, permanently away from them, instead of leaving them 
to their natural inclinations influenced by physical conditions surrounding them 
(using language of Professor W. J. Sutherland of Wisconsin), "to develop, dwell. 



18 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

and enter into the industrial pursuits of the neighborhood or locality in which they 
were born," is radically wrong, not in harmony with the best interests of the people, 
and some way should be devised to remedy it. 

In the instruction now provided in the elementary schools, stress is placed not 
upon the need of the pupil as a member of the society in which he lives, but rather 
upon the artificial educational requirements of the secondary schools. What the 
elementary school teaches should be given out by the teacher and taken in by the 
child as learning in itself and not merely as training for further learning. Todaj^ 
there is less danger of becoming satisfied with the doing of what is in hand to do 
and losing sight of the larger things ahead than of regarding the work of the moment 
of small importance except as it prepares for work to be done later. Again refer- 
ring to the report of the Carnegie Foundation, it appears, pages 64-65, that taking 
the last national census as a basis, and assuming the ages from 15 to 18, inclusive, 
to be the normal ages for secondary schooling, the state has approximately 25,000 
children to educate in this way. The secondary schools of the state at present 
reach only about 23 per cent, of these children. Under the classification and 
improvement of secondary schools hereinafter recommended, children of the ages 
of 13 and 14 years are included in secondary-school age, and this increases the 
number for training in such schools to approximately 37,500; yet it may be taken 
as true that even too large a proportion of the children in the elementary schools 
will not enter the high schools. It is vital, therefore, that they take with them 
from the elementary schools knowledge that is real and useful in itself and acquire- 
ments that they can apply in their every-day life. Those, too, who go forward to 
a secondary .school should not be required to spend their time on subjects chiefly 
important in meeting high school entrance standards as required in the free tuition 
examinations. As suggested in the Foundation's report, with competent instruc- 
tion and supervision, a child should be passed from one division of the school system 
to another without examination. Clearly, a new course of study is needed and we 
adopt the following recommendations of the Carnegie Foundation (page 61), in 
this respect: 

"For this purpose experienced teachers and superintendents from all parts of 
the state should be organized into committees and brought together at an early 
date, in order that the general principles that shall govern the making of the course 
may be fully explained and illustrated. Not less than two years should be allowed 
these committees in which to prepare a tentative course, which should then be 
published and tried in the schools for a year, in order to remedy its defects before 
final adoption. There should be at least two separate courses, one for the rural 
schools and one for the graded schools. Much of the subject-matter in these two 
courses would be the same, but the suggestions and applications should vary 
greatly. The various cities and unions might add appropriate modifications. 
This method of making a course of study will require a careful consideration of all 
of the conditions surrounding the schools, and will result in courses adapted to the 



ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 19 

needs of Vermont. Incidentally, it will greatly benefit all of those who take part 
in the work of their preparation." 

The need of a new course of study has long been apparent. The trouble has 
been chiefly in the manner of meeting it. Although the teaching of new subjects, 
rightly chosen, rather than new methods of teaching those already in the curriculum, 
will tend to awaken the child to a lively interest in his school, the advantage, for 
instance, of teaching agriculture and domestic science in a rural school by a teacher 
without instructional quahfications therefor, is questionable. The ^'ital problem 
of elementary rural school instruction rests, not in the subjects taught, although 
more emphasis well might be given to subjects other than the "three R's;" it rests 
rather in the failure to adapt the things taught to the daily experience and needs 
of the child. 

The Commission thinks it well said in the report of the Carnegie Foundation 
(page 38), in speaking of this class of schools: 

"1. Schools should recognize the varying abilities, experiences, and environment 
of the children. 

"2. Schools should recognize both the present and the future needs of the children. 

"3. The knowledge gained in school should be so organized that the children 
can use it. 

"4. In so far as the state assumes the responsibility for elementary education, 
the educational opportunities should be as nearly uniform throughout the state as 
conditions will permit." 

United States Commissioner of Education, Philander P. Claxton, in his report 
for the year ending June 30, 1913, (Volume I, page xxx) under the subdivision 
"Redirection of the work of the rural school," says: "Courses of study in country 
schools need reconstruction and their work needs redirection. As human beings 
and as citizens, men and women living in the country have the same interests in 
the humanities (the term is used in its broad sense) and the things pertaining to 
civic Ufe and citizen.ship that all other people have. But as farmers and farmers' 
wives, making their living from the soil and living in isolated country homes, their 
interests differ widely from those of men and women of the laboring and professional 
classes in the cities. However the case may have been in the past, it has now 
come about that farmers need a fuller, more extensive, more ^'aried and thorough 
knowledge, a more comprehensive grasp of fundamental principles, and a greater 
power of adjustment than men engaged in other professions. The same is true of 
the farmer's wife as compared with other women * * *. Their courses of study need 
to be remade on the basis of what the farmer needs to know, and their teaching 
must take into consideration the environment and the raw material of experience 
of the country boy and girl." 

One of the most important educational problems in the state is that of the con- 
solidation of elementary schools, involving the question of transportation of pupils. 



20 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

As pointed out in the Foundation's report, opposition to consolidation on economic 
grounds is unwarranted by the facts, and sentimental objections to closing the 
little school-house are more than offset by the increased instructional benefits 
enjoyed by the pupils. We are firm in the belief that here, as in other parts of 
the state's educational system, concentration and centralization within proper 
limitations is a sound policy. We believe, however, that the consolidation of 
schools as it exists in more or less instances, may be an encroachment on guaranteed 
rights and is developing wrong tendencies. As the environment and associations 
of children in the cities and large villages differ greatly from those of children in 
the rural sections, the same difference must necessarily obtain in their schools if 
their instruction is to be in harmony with their environment. Not that the 
subjects taught are materially different, but the manner in which the instruction 
is made plain to the minds of the children will vary as their experiences vary. It 
is not unnatural, but inevitable, that in some urban schools receiving pupils from 
the rural districts, the latter have come to feel in a class by themselves. They 
arrive at the school just in time in the morning and leave together at the close of 
the afternoon session. They are a body in themselves and in the circumstances 
cannot amalgamate with resident pupils either in the life of the school or in those 
outside associations that gather around it. This does not mean that the village 
children are exclusive nor that the country children lack the social instinct. It 
is simply an existent condition, and one that deprives the latter of a real school 
life to which they are as much entitled as the former. 

There needs to be such readjustment of the elementary schools as shall result, 
so far as practicable, in the consolidation of rural schools. This is in the line of 
much activity during the past year, says the United States Commissioner of 
Education, (Report for 1912-13, Vol. 1, page 175,) and it is "an indication of a 
prevailing opinion that consolidation will do much to remedy the present unsatis- 
factory conditions in rural education." Many schools, centrally located in the 
country, can have all the advantages of grades, teachers, and direct supervision 
now enjoyed by schools in cities and large villages. In the establishment 
of these central rural schools, town lines should give way to the requirements of 
topography. Rural schools of two, three, and even four towns, rightly located, 
might well be consolidated at a convenient cross-roads. The expense of building, 
if necessary, and maintenance, except as borne by the state, should be equitably 
shared by the different towns joining in such schools, and the managing board of 
directors should be composed of one or more, taken from the several boards of 
school directors in said towns. This effects the same purpose as did fractional 
school districts, formed of parts of adjoining towns, when the school district system 
obtained. Such centralized rural schools should be established by the state board 
of education. Their establishment would not only develop a real school life of 
the highest order for the children, but would crystallize rural society around the 
school as a center, an object everywhere deemed desirable. 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS 21 

2, Secondaey Schools 

The statutes of this state have had provisions more or less looking toward 
secondary-school instruction since 1841, a law being passed that year providing 
for the associating together of two or more contiguous school districts to form 
a union district for the purpose of maintaining a union school, to be kept for 
the benefit of the older children of such districts. In 1844 an Act was passed, 
whereby a school district having children so numerous as to require more than 
one teacher, could have two or more schools; the teacher of the high or central 
school could be directed to teach any of the sciences or higher branches of a 
thorough education. In 1867 an Act was passed, authorizing a town to establish 
and maintain one or more central schools for the education of advanced pupils 
of the town. In 1878 the Act of 1867 was so amended as to read "one or 
more high or central schools." Thereafter, amendments were made by the legisla- 
ture, from time to time, looking more and more to secondary school opportunities. 
In 1904 the legislature defined a high school as being one maintained for thirty- 
three or more weeks in each year, taught by a teacher or teachers of competent 
ability, etc., having an established course or courses of study for four years, following 
a nine-years' elementary course, and providing instruction in subjects "such as the 
English language, literature, higher mathematics, history, the natural, political, 
social, moral, and industrial sciences, ancient and modern languages, art, music, 
and physical culture." And by the Public Statutes (1906), section 1016, high 
schools were classified as follows: "first class, a school of a four-years course or 
courses; second class, a school of a three-years course or courses; third class, a 
school of a two-years course or courses; fourth class, a school of a one-year course 
or courses." The course or courses in any one of the four classes to begin immedi- 
ately at the completion of an elementary course of nine years. 

Under the provisions of section 1021, of the Public Statutes, as amended by 
section 19 of No. 62, Acts of 1912, it is made the duty of the board of education to 
determine the classification and standard of high schools, and by section 20, of 
that Act, section 1016 of the Public Statutes was so amended as to exclude there- 
from all statutory classification, and to make the course of instruction in the high 
schools to begin immediately at the completion of the elementary course of not less 
than eight years. Acting under this Act of 1912, the board of education, deeming 
it wise to continue a similar classification of high schools as had previously existed, 
pending the report of this Commission, passed a resolution to that effect. 

Section 1017, of the Public Statutes reads: "A town shall maintain a high 
school or furnish higher instruction for its advanced pupils as follows: the board 
of school directors shall, at an expense not to exceed eight dollars a term or 
twenty-four dollars a year for each pupil, unless the board of school directors 
is authorized by vote of the town to pay a higher tuition, provide and arrange 
for the instruction of advanced pupils in a high school of an incorporated dis- 



22 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

trict or an academy within the town, or in the high schools or academies of 
other towns within or without the state. If a town does not maintain a high 
school of the first class, the board of school directors shall provide and arrange for 
the instruction of the advanced pupils of the town, for the remaining years, neces- 
sary to complete the course or courses of study in a high school of the first class, 
in a high school of an incorporated district or academy within the town, or in the 
high schools or academies of other towns within or without the state." It is further 
provided by statute that no person shall be deprived of such instruction by reason 
of age. 

That secondary schools have been steadily growing in public favor in this state, 
is evident from the foregoing course of legislative action; and that their importance 
is recognized as second only to that of the elementary schools is manifest from the 
mandatory provision that every town shall maintain such a school, or furnish 
higher instruction for its advanced pupils elsewhere. 

Yet in this respect Vermont is but keeping abreast of the present state of educa- 
tional facilities largely afforded in other states in this Union. We call attention to 
the 1912 report of the United States Commissioner of Education, and quote from 
Volume II, page 181: 

"The progress in secondary education continues with increasing rapidity. The 
report for 1911-12 shows 1,075 more high schools and 131,501 more high-school 
students than the report for the previous year. The increase in the number of 
high schools for the year is only a little less than 9 per cent; the increase in the 
number of high-school students is more than 12 per cent. The increase in high- 
school students for the year is nearly 50 per cent more than the average increase 
for four years previous and more than four times as great as the average increase 
of the preceding twenty years. The proportion of high-school students to the 
scholastic population was about three times as great as in 1890. It is estimated 
that about 23 per cent of the children of this generation in the United States re- 
ceive some education in the high schools;" and in his report for 1912-13, Volume 
I, page 67, the United States Commissioner of Education shows that this growth 
continues without interruption. 

In the study of this part of the state's educational system and conditions, it is 
essential to notice the twofold functional purpose of secondary schools: (1) To 
finish the schooling of one part of the state's youth; (2) To prepare the other part 
for higher schooling. Each part is entitled to a reasonable opportunity to acquire 
an education according to its needs. By constantly bearing in mind this twofold 
function to be fulfilled, we believe that a correct solution of the problems may be 
reached on basic principles. 

Ideally, the state has an equal educational duty toward both of these two classes 
of its school youth. In theory this duty is absolute; in practice it must, for the 
present at least, remain relative. On the one hand, it is understood that but a 
small number of the pupils contemplate a college course, and the requirements 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS 23 

for entrance thereupon are known. As to such pupils, the aim of the high school 
is to qualify them to meet such requirements. On the other hand, it is known 
that in all probabihty a large number of the pupils will end their school-work 
in the high school, and as to them the aim of the school should not be circum- 
scribed by any fixed standard short of turning out each pupil at the end of his course 
as a finished product, fitted as far as may be to grapple with the problems of life. 
The facts that less then ten per cent of its secondary pupils go to college and that 
of those graduating from the high schools in 1912 only 17.1 per cent went forward 
to institutions of higher learning, make it clear that in the performance of this 
duty stress should and must be given to the education of those boys and girls who 
leave the secondary school to take up their life work. 

As the work of the higher elementary grades has been largely molded to fit the 
requirements of the secondary schools, these, in turn, have been fostered and domi- 
nated too much by the requirements of our colleges. This appears from the mani- 
fest disposition so far to disregard the real needs of the many pupils not intending 
a college education, as to allow their instruction to be influenced largely by the 
fixed types of training suited onb^ to the small fraction having a higher education in 
view. It is not, however, tiiat the colleges have actively dominated the secondary 
schools ; rather the secondary schools have failed to discriminate properly between 
the two classes in arranging curricula suitable to their respective needs, and there- 
by the many pupils have been made to suffer for the particular benefit of less than 
one-tenth of the entire number. This shows great inefficiency on the part of 
those who are responsible for it, and so long as such inefficiency continues unsatis- 
factory and unjust results must follow. That secondary education may properly 
perform its dual function of securing to nine-tenths of its pupils a preparation for 
life in the factory, in the office, in the home, or on the farm, without sacrificing 
the proportionate right of the remaining one-tenth to a preparation for the further 
pursuit of schooling in college, we believe some change is necessary. "In con- 
formity with this idea," well say the educational investigators (Report of Carnegie 
Foundation, page 97), "it is clear that the secondary school should be organized 
so as to deal with every normal child ; that it should provide widely varied 
opportunities for determining the central tendency of a child's abilities and dis- 
position; that its courses should include, not incidentally but treated with inten- 
sive thoroughness, those fields in which the youth of the community are likely 
to find their permanent careers; and finally that in the arrangement of curriculum 
and program, in the ordering of general school activities, in the training and spirit 
of the teaching staff, the central purpose should be to establish the child in the 
noblest mental and spiritual relations with life." 

The small per cent of youth of secondary-school age, who now actually receive 
secondary-school instruction, is a matter of grave public concern, and some prac- 
tical method should be devised, if possible, whereby it may be increased to a very 
considerable extent. It may be that the conditions in this respect will improve 



24 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

as time goes on, even should the point of division between the elementary school 
and the secondary school remain where it now is. But the degree of improvement 
that can reasonably be expected without some material change in the point of divi- 
sion, naturally tending in the right direction, is too small to be satisfactorily en- 
couraging. 

The remedy recommended by the Carnegie Foundation is to put the point of 
division at the end of the sixth year, and place six years in the high school. This 
means a six-year elementary course, followed by a six-year high-school course, 
divided, as will be seen later, into two parts. Such a classification constitutes 
what is known in educational circles as the "six-and-six" plan of organization. 
This plan has so much in its favor and so little against it, that in the judgment of 
the Commission, it should be adopted. In its practical operation, the pupils may 
be expected to complete the elementary course, ready to enter the high school at 
the age of twelve years — the time of change in the lives of youth when entering 
the adolescent period. School age has yet six years to run, of which years four 
are within the period of compulsory attendance, as now fixed by statute. The 
completion of elementary work thus regulated is at a time in the lives of the chil- 
dren, when, all things considered, they are in the best condition physically and 
temperamentally, and educationally, to enter upon a course of high-school work, 
and at a time when they are likely to be most inclined to do so. In this connection 
the position of the parents toward their children must not be overlooked. Fathers 
and mothers are rare and not within the common governing instincts of humanity, 
who are not interested in the well-being of their sons and daughters, and who do 
not take pride in watching their development, mentally as well as physically, in 
the right direction; and probably there is no time when such parental characteris- 
tic is more potent as an actuating force than when the child is passing into the 
years of adolescence. At that time, then, the parents are most likely to influence 
the child to active progress looking to a course of advanced instruction in the high 
school. Let such a course be once commenced, and no argument is needed to con- 
vince a person of fair mind that the pupil is more likely to complete the full four- 
year course, than he would be to take advanced instruction in the high school 
after an elementary course extending over the length of time now required, eight 
years. 

It will be recalled that the present classification of the high schools is by force of 
a resolution adopted by the board of education for temporary purposes, pending the 
action of this Commission. A classification is necessary, but to be effective as a 
part of the solution of the problem it must be based upon some difference having 
a just relation to the end to be attained. Without such a basis any classification 
that can be made is more likely to lead to complexity than to simplicity in the 
operation of the system. 

There can be no doubt that under the "six-and-six" plan of organization, a 
nmch larger per cent of the youth completing the elementary-school course than 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS £5 

now will seek a higher instruction in the secondary schools; and there is no percep- 
tible reason why the per cent remaining there throughout a four-year course may 
be materially less, except as affected by causes beyond control. Speaking generally, 
the four-year course or courses in all the high schools of the state would probably 
be the same, varying only so far as necessary to meet the conditions, and it is 
highly probable that of those completing such a course but a comparatively small 
per cent would continue through a six-year course, either to fit for college, or to 
enlarge and broaden their secondary-school education. Yet for the benefit of the 
small per cent who may desire a full six-year course, an adequate and reasonably 
convenient opportunity to that end should be afforded. In view of the compara- 
tively small number of youth who are likely to desire such a course, the number 
of high schools in which the usual course or courses of four years need to be sup- 
plemented by two additional years, may be much less than the number of high 
schools of the other class and still afford reasonably convenient accommodations 
to those desiring to attend. Here then is a reasonable basis for the classification 
of the high schools into what may be called junior high schools, having a four-year 
course or courses, and senior high schools, having a six-year course or courses. 
Consequently in the judgment of the Commission, such a classification should be 
had to insure more efficient operation of the primary elements entering into the 
educational system of the state. 

The national bureau of education reports that in 1905 the department of secon- 
dary education of the National Education Association appointed a committee on 
six-year courses; that the reports received and adopted in 1907, 1908, and 1909, 
indicated that the sentiment for the "six-and-six" division was growing; that since 
the adoption of the 1909 report there is every evidence of a rapidly growing ten- 
dency toward a shorter elementary course and a high school course of six years 
divided into two parts. The report further says: "Under the 'six-and-six' plan a 
few of the present high-school subjects, such as the languages, algebra and elemen- 
tary science, are brought down into the seventh and eighth grades. It is pointed 
out that this arrangement will permit a pupil in the junior high school to prepare for 
any of the courses offered in the senior school, thus bridging the gap now existing 
between the eighth and the ninth grades. A pupil who in all probability will never 
go to college, would be given subjects leading to some vocational course in the senior 
high school, while the pupil who intends to enter college, would be given in the 
junior high school subjects preparing him for any one of the college preparatory 
courses in the senior school. A pupil would thus continue a subject long enough for 
it to be of some educational value. Algebra could be completed a year earlier, 
and the foundation for the study of physics and chemistry could be firmly laid. 
The claim is therefore made that the American boy would, under the 'six-and-six' 
plan, gain a year of two over the present arrangement." 

"The conclusion of this committee," says the United States Commissioner of 
Education (Report 1912-1913, Volume I, page 5,) "that at least two yeasr can 



26 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

be saved in the time now given to elementary instruction, is significant, not be- 
cause educators did not know it before, but because, coming from a conservative 
source, it represents the mature judgment of those actually engaged in teaching; 
a judgment, furthermore, reached only after the most painstaking consideration 
of all the circumstances, and confirmed by independent observers of conditions in 
other countries." 

At a very recent meeting of the Inland Empire Teachers' Association (which 
enrolls about 2,000 teachers from the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and 
Montana,) a resolution was unanimously adopted favoring the "six-and-six" plan 
of school organization. At that meeting the United States Commissioner of Edu- 
cation, speaking with emphatic approval of this plan, said in part as follows : — 

"I know of no valid reason for the present plan of eight and four years of school. 
There should be si.x years of elementary school and six years of high school, the 
high school period being divided into two sections of three years each. 

"There are many reasons for the change. Children 12 and 13 years old are 
at the beginning of the transition period between childhood and youth — they should 
not be kept doing elementary work. At present the pupils in most school systems 
mark time to a large extent through the 7th and 8th grades. This is especially 
true where the methods of the elementary schools are carried through these and 
the children are taught by women grade teachers. With a six-year elementary 
school it would be easily possi!)le to promote the teachers with the children from 
grade to grade, thus gaining tli? large value that comes from teachers and children 
remaining together until the teacher knows the needs of the children, their strength, 
and their weakness, and can build intelligently on all the work of previous 
years. 

"Furthermore, to begin the high school with the seventh grade will make much 
easier the departmental work, which should begin at least this low down. It will also 
make it much easier to begin work in such high school subjects as foreign languages, 
constructive geometry, and real literature, at this point where they should be 
begun. The study of languages, especially of modern languages, should be begun 
in a practical way before children have passed the time when they can learn in 
this way. This plan will also make it possible to introduce manual training, 
domestic science, and various forms of vocational work two years earlier than they 
are now begun. 

"Our secondary school work is now at a great disadvantage as compared with 
the work done in the Gynasien and Realschulen in Germany, the Lycees of France, 
and the so-called public .schools of England. By giving six years to the high 
school, the boys and girls who go to college may easily have, on admission to college, 
a much larger amount of mathematics, languages, and other subjects than they 
now have. I feel quite sure that by an arrangement of this kind and a little more 
care in the preparation and selection of teachers you may gain for most children 
two years in the twelve. 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS 27 

"The division of the high school into two sections of three years each will make 
easier a second differentiation of work at the end of the first three high-school years. 

"At present only about one-fourth of the children enter the high school. The 
compulsory school age in most states corresponds quite closely with the elementary 
school period. Parents and children are thereby confirmed in the idea that the 
elementary education is all that is needed. Besides, the break between the elemen- 
tary school and the high school at this time suggests leaving school and makes it 
easier. If the break came at 12 or 13 the great majority of children would be in the 
high school, doing high school work under high school conditions, and probably 
a much larger proportion of them would continue in school than under present 
conditions." 

It is seen that Dr. Claxton favors the division of the high schools under the 
six-and-six plan of organization, into three and three years, and such a division 
seems to be in accordance with the growing tendency. Yet in the belief of the 
Commission there are good and sufBcient reasons why the 3-3 division is less for 
the interest of the State of Vermont than the 4-2 division, here recommended: 
first, the 3-3 division would add but one year in the junior high school to the time 
now required in the elementary school, while with the 4-2 division, it seems highly 
probable that no less number of pupils would enter the junior high school, and that 
most of those entering may reasonably be expected to remain throughout a four- 
year course; and secondly, (the reason given in the report of the Carnegie Founda- 
tion, page 105), that "giving a junior school of four years and an additional cen- 
tral school course of two years, instead of devoting three years to each, * * * 
postpones home-leaving to the latest possible point, — a consideration of much 
importance where many are involved. This would not usually take place then 
Ijefore the age of seventeen, — an age of reasonable discretion, when supervision 
such as a high school staff could exercise would I>'.' effective." 

In this connection it should be stated that the age of compulsory attendance 
in this state is "between the ages of eight and sixteen years" unless the child is 
mentally or physically unable so to attend, "or has already acquired the branches 
required to be taught in the elementary schools, or is otherwise being furnished 
with the same education, or is legally excused from attending school." 

Should the schools be reorganized in accordance with the "six-and-six" plan, 
this law regarding compulsory attendance (section 1029 of the Public Statutes, 
as amended by section 1 of No. 75, Acts of 1912), should be amended by striking 
out the words, "or has already acquired the branches required to be taught in the 
elementary schools;" for with these words remaining in that section, it would in 
effect reduce compulsory school age by two years. This should not be. The 
compulsory attendance should continue into and through the usual age of pupils 
taking junior high-school courses. 

There are now in this state seventy-five public high schools. Averaged, this 
gives one high school to about three and one-fifth towns and cities. These schools 



28 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

are all closely similar in type, organized in about the same fashion, based upon the 
same fundamental traditions, and in general, having the same aims. "The curri- 
culum in each," says the Carnegie Report, page 67, "consists of the traditional 
college preparatory course, or its close deri\-ative, more or less enriched with semi- 
vocational opportunities in commercial subjects, domestic science, manual training, 
or agriculture. The method and the spirit of instruction, however vastly they 
may differ in their essential quality in different schools, are yet remarkably uniform 
in kind and reveal the same general source." The report (page 65) shows that in 
1912, about 5,722 of the 25,000 children from 15 to 18 years in this state, actually 
received secondary instruction in schools organized for that purpose. If a reorgani- 
zation of the elementary and the secondary schools be had, according to the recom- 
mendations contained in this report, it is reasonably certain that more high schools 
of the junior class, properly distributed in location, will be needed to meet the 
requirements of the larger number of pupils seeking instruction therein. 

In some towns where approved academies are located and in operation, no high 
school has been established. Instead thereof the several towns have arranged 
yearly with the academy in town for secondary schooling at that institution at 
public expense. Such arrangements seem to be working well. To all intents and 
purposes, the academy is the public high school of the town. Arrangements of 
this kind, however, should be subject to the approval of the board of education. 

Except where the academy in town is thus made to answer the purposes of a high 
school, there should be a junior high school in every town in the state where the 
youth to attend are sufficient in number to warrant it. But if the number of such 
youth is too small to warrant the establishment of a high school, then arrange- 
ments should be made by the town, subject to the approval and supervision of the 
board of education, for secondary educational advantages to its youth, outside of 
the town, at public expense. 

In the junior high schools, pupils, whether contemplating a collegiate education 
or otherwise, should find a four-year course suited to their needs, and if in addition 
thereto a further two-year course be desired (as would be the case if preparing for 
college), it should be found in the senior high school, in each to be given by com- 
petent teachers. In these, the junior high schools, supplemented by the senior 
high schools, pupils contemplating a collegiate education should be furnished with 
convenient instruction suitable to the preparatory course required. Pupils, too, 
who desire a general six-year course with opportunities for semi-vocational training 
in commercial subjects, domestic science, manual training, or agriculture, should 
in like manner be aft'orded instruction suitable to the end sought. And pupils 
desiring a four-year course with lesser opportunities for the semi-vocational training 
such as is above described, should be afi^orded convenient instruction in the junior 
high schools. 

Under the present law not all high schools are schools of the first class, and it is 
only in schools of the first class that a four-year course, fitting for college or other- 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS 29 

wise, can be had. Where the high schools are of the second, third, or fourth class, 
pupils taking a course therein must complete their course of study (if more be had) 
in some academy, or in some high school of the first class elsewhere. Provision 
is made therefor in section 1017 of the Public Statutes, quoted above. By the law 
of that section, if a town does not maintain a high school of the first class, the 
board of school directors shall provide and arrange for the instruction of the ad- 
vanced pupils of the town, for the remaining years necessary to complete the 
course or courses of study in a high school of the first class, in a high school of an 
incorporated district or academy of the town if there be such, or in the high schools 
or academies outside the town, and even outside the state. This law will work 
not less justly to pupils under the proposed reorganization. 

Believing a reorganization of the elementary and the secondary schools according 
to the "six-and-six" plan, to be for the best educational interests of the state, the 
Commission recommends: (a) That there should be a junior high school maintained 
in every town in the state (unless by arrangement an academy in town is in efi'ect 
the high school of the town) where the number of secondary-school youth to be 
conveniently accommodated shall reasonably warrant it, having (in the language 
of the Carnegie Foundation's report, page 109), "a four-year curriculum, elastic 
in administration, but limited in scope by the numbers and needs of the local boys 
and girls, 12 to 16 years of age, covering the seventh and eighth grades of the present 
elementary school and the first two years of the present high school," with equip- 
ment appropriate to the curriculum presented; (b) That there should be as many 
central and readily accessible senior high schools, articulating directly with all 
neighboring junior high schools, as the number of pupils desiring the advanced 
instruction given only in this class of schools, shall reasonably demand, the number 
and locations to be determined by the board of education. These should have: 
(a) A four-year junior curriculum as in the junior high schools, "but including 
special vocational opportunities, particularly in agriculture, for pupils from 12 to 
16 years of age;" (6) A curriculum appropriate to the youth of 17 to 19 years of 
age, drawn from the surrounding districts, who are fitting for college, or are com- 
pleting a course of general education. This class of schools should have adequate 
equipment for all purposes within the curricula. 

Yet with secondary schools so classified and under the best of regulations, effi- 
cient results cannot be realized unless the teachers are specially qualified for the 
work they are called to perform. 

It may be said that under such a reorganization as is here recommended, the 
public schools of the state will be more expensive than at present. Undoubtedly 
this is so to some extent, more particularly consequent on the increased number of 
high schools, the quality of teachers, the larger salary demanded by them, and the 
better supervision. Yet to allow this as a controlling element against such reorgan- 
ization is to place the expense of schools as the controlling factor, and the quality 
of schools, the educational advantages of the children, and the general welfare of 



30 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

the state, as of secondary importance, a position which, in the judgment of the 
Commission, will be taken by so few people imbued with the true spirit of the 
Vermonter, and looking primarily to the general good of the people, as to be almost 
negligible. ''That regard be had to the public welfare, is the highest law." 

The expense of public schools should, however, more than ever before, be borne 
by the state at large, rather than by the several municipalities in which the schools 
are located. We endorse with emphasis the report of the Carnegie Foundation, 
wherein it says (page 144) : 

"It is essential, however, not to obscure the remaining fact that the state needs 
yet to provide both for a greater equalization of the burden of .school support among 
the communities of the state and for a further enlargement of the funds to be used 
for the elementary and secondary schools, if these schools are to be conducted on 
the high level requisite for the progressive welfare of the state. The urgencies of 
the educational situation revealed in the portions of this report dealing with the 
rural and the .secondary schools are such that additional expenditures on the part 
of the state must be resolutely faced. It is not a question of how much Vermont 
is expending per capita. It is a question of developing a school system equal to 
the needs of its people." 

In this connection let us remember that by the organic law, it is the bounden duty 
of the state to provide for its youth suitable opportunities for acquiring an elemen- 
tary and a secondary education. This being so, the state should perform this duty 
before it gives financial aid to institutions of higher learning, not a part of its 
public educational system. 

It may also be said that such a reorganization will not meet with the approval 
of towns now having efficient high schools of the first class (under present classifi- 
cation), on the ground that to supersede such high schools by junior high schools, 
thereby obliging pupils in order to complete their fitting for college or to take 
advanced studies in the senior high schools, to leave home earlier in age than is now 
necessary, will be more expensive to the parents of such pupils. This also may 
he true and not, by any sound course of reasoning, militate against the proposed 
new organization. It is an undoubted fact that but a very small per cent of 
children receive instruction beyond the elementary schools. Is it for the public 
good that this condition of things permanently remain? If it is, then the j)rinciple 
"let well enough alone" should be applied. But if it is not, then to refuse to take 
a step which in all probability will, to a very large degree, remedy that evil, simply 
because a small per cent of the youth will be discommoded to some extent in taking 
advanced courses in the senior high schools, is to say that the very few thus in- 
commoded are of more consequence than the ten or twenty times as many to be 
materially benefited thereby, a principle too irrational for serious consideration. 

The educational system should be so regulated as most to benefit all the people 
of the state, and the interest of the few should give way to that of the many. Let 
us recur to fundamental principles already noticed, "That government is, or ought 



THE SCHOOL TERM 31 

to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, 
nation, or community, and not for the particular emolument or advantage of any 
single man, family, or set of men, who are a part only of that community; * * *" 
If provision be made by statute for a reorganization substantially in accordance 
with these recommendations, much will depend upon the board of education by 
itself and through its chief executive officer, to effect such changes as may be 
necessary to put the schools, both elementary and secondary, into workable shape 
under the new regulations, and ample time should willingly be allowed therefor. 
It cannot be accomplished in a monemt, and time commensurate with the work 
necessary to be done to bring about the change in an efficient manner, should be 
granted. In the meantime, the board of education should have discretionary 
powers broad enough to enable it to meet conditions peculiar to any particular 
town or locality in a manner most conducive to the educational advantage of the 
town or locality, and at the same time looking toward the operation of the new 
regulation.s as soon as shall be reasonably warrantable. 



3. The School Term 

The school term in this state must by statute be at least 30 weeks. In the judg- 
ment of the Commission this is too short for the best results in a school age. It 
is true that the length of the school term varies in different states, some longer 
and some shorter than that of Vermont. It is said, however, by the United States 
Commissioner of Education in his report for the year ending June 30, 1912, (page 
xix,) that "surely an annual school term of 180 days, and an average attendance of 
90 per cent of this time by all the children between the ages of 6 to 16, a total of 1620 
days, can not be considered more than is necessary to prepare children for life and 
citizenship;" and he shows by tables the average length of school term in days of 
each of the several states in 1910-11, and the number of days that must be added 
to make an average term of 180 days, and the average number of days of schooling 
each child will get in the several states on the basis of attendance for 1910-11, 
and the number of days of increase necessary to give an average of 1620 days, or 
an average attendance of 90 per cent of 180 days each year by each child between the 
ages of 6 and 16. Regarding the states of New England and the state of New York 
the tables show that the school term in Maine is 163.8 days, in New Hampshire, 
168.5 days, in Massachusetts, 185 days, in Connecticut, 184.9 days, in Rhode 
Island, 194 days, in New York, 186.9 days, in Vermont, 160 days. This makes 
Vermont's school term 20 days Icjs than 180, the school term mentioned by the 
United States Commissioner of Education. It also gives Vermont 1338 days as 
the total days of schooling for each child between the ages named, it being 282 
days less than the total of 1620 days given if the school term is 180 days as there 
recommended. 



32 THE COMMON SCHOOLS 

This is of great consequence to the state and especially to the children whose 
school education ends with the public schools. To lose two hundred eighty-two 
days of schooling is to lose the equivalent of nearly two years under present regu- 
lations, a loss which such children should not be obliged to suffer. The additional 
expense consequent on an increase of the length of the school term would be incon- 
siderable when compared with the benefits received. The Commission recommends 
that the length of the school term be increased to not less than thirty-six weeks. 



IV 
SPECIAI.LY INCORPORATED DISTRICTS 

There are in the state thirty specially incorporated school districts, which in 
some instances include the whole town. Very likely the reason for being so incor- 
porated was to get enlarged powers, or to secure the benefit of some fund or funds 
deemed not otherwise available. In the judgment of the Commission, the public 
schools of the state should be operated under general laws common to all parts of, 
and localities in, the state. By such laws no town, or district, should have special 
■educational rights or privileges. In the proposed reorganization the general law 
should be made broad enough, if not so already, to give all such rights and privileges 
as are necessary to the effective operation of the educational policies of the state, 
and at the same time it should be sufficient to enable any school district to have 
the benefit of property now possessed by gift, bequest, or otherwise, from private 
sources. 

The Commission therefore recommends that the charters of all specially incor- 
porated school districts in the state be repealed, saving to the districts, however, 
by general statutory provisions, the same benefit of property now had by them 
respectively, by gift, bequest, or otherwise, from private sources. 



V 
COUNTY GRAMMAR SCHOOLS AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL LANDS 

Mention is made, in an earlier part of this report, of the county grammar schools 
incorporated as private institutions in nearly every county in the state, largely 
within a third of a century after the adoption of the Constitution of 1786, to some 
or all of which several corporations the General Assembly granted the lands situa- 
ted in the same county, reserved in town charters to the use of county grammar 
schools. Though this Commission does not deem matters relating particularly 
to these county grammar schools and the lands granted to them, to be within its 
province, yet it ventures to call attention to them. The Commission under- 
stands that most if not all of these county grammar schools ceased to operate 
years ago, though in some and perhaps in most instances the corporate entity still 
exists; and that by force of legislative enactments or otherwise, the income from 
the grammar school lands now goes to the use and benefit of other educational 
institutions, public or private. The Vermont school report made by the state 
superintendent of education in 1888, states that such lands in the state aggregate 
23,853 acres, appraised at $173, 557, and that the rent received therefrom was then 
$2,800. Regarding the present rent and the use made of it, the Commission has 
no adequate information; nor has the Commission sufficient information upon 
which to base any opinion concerning the reserved power of the General Assembly, 
if any it has, to act in relation to the lands or the rents and profits derived there- 
from. It seems, however, that these lands and the use of them are of such con- 
sequence to the state, educationally, as to justify the appointment of a commission 
to investigate and report relative thereto, and relative to the county grammar 
schools to which the lands were granted, to the end that so far as it has power, 
the legislature may take action, looking to a more general distribution of the rents 
and profits to the public schools in the several counties in the state. 



VI 
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

When the founders of this state provided in its organic law that schools should 
be maintained "for the convenient instruction of youth," although they had no 
conception of public vocational training as now developed, they laid down an 
educational principle good for all time by the requirements of which vocational 
education justifies itself. They further asserted that "every freeman, to preserve 
his independence (if without a sufficient estate) ought to have some profession, 
calling, trade, or farm, whereby he may honestly subsist," thereby recognizing 
in a substantial form, the importance of vocational training. In those days the 
boy who aimed at the trades became an apprentice and the girl received in her 
home training in things domestic. With the great change in social and economic 
conditions that has since come about, such opportunities for vocational training 
have almost entirely disappeared, leaving an educational void, in which our youth 
have aimlessly floated about or wasted years in further training of little practical 
value. As already seen, convenient instruction is that affording accommodation 
and advantage, and we believe it beyond successful contradiction that, under the 
Constitution, a duty to bridge this educational gap for the accommodation and 
advantage of its youth, rests upon the state. 

Vocational training, although no longer in the class of uncertain experiments, 
still receives httle encouragement from those educators to whom culture and 
intellectuality are the end and aim of schooling. They "make a fetish of learning 
at the expense of education." This truth is well expressed by Prof. G. B. Meade 
whose statement is set forth in the latest report of the United States Commissioner 
of Education as follows: 

"Our schools are still in one respect medieval. They assume more or less con- 
sciously that they are called upon to indoctrinate their pupils, and that the doctrine 
which they have to instill — whether it be that of language, number, history, litera- 
ture, or elementary science — is guaranteed as subject matter for instruction by its 
own truth, its traditional position in the school curriculum, and finally by its 
relation to the rest of the ideas, points of view, artistic products, historic monu- 
ments, which together make up what we call our culture." 

Culture and intellectuality alone cannot do the world's work. The Commis- 
sioner of Education in Massachusetts has defined vocational education as "any 
education whose controlling purpose is to fit for a recognized occupation." It is 
far better that the great mass of our youth should be trained in the skillful per- 
formance of their lifework than receive a fragmentary intellectual development 
of little practical value. In a memorable speech on vocational education delivered 
in the Senate of the United States, June 5, 1912, the speaker, showing much thought 
and research, said: 

"... The curriculum of practically all our schools looks forward to the college 



36 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

as the ultimate end of all school life. Every college-bred man regards it a great 
misfortune that our young men are not receiving a more generous cultural training, 
and so do I. 

"But, Mr. President, these men forget that only 1.71 per cent of our boys ever 
enter the college or university. They forget that only an additional 5.35 per cent 
ever enter the high school. They forget that only 25 per cent of the balance ever 
get as high as the eighth or upjjer grade of the elementary or grammar school. 
They forget that less than 50 per cent ever complete the seventh grade. 

"In brief, Mr. President, they predicate their plans for the school life of the boy 
upon what ought to be, rather than what is. They would have every boy 
thoroughly educated; so would I; but since this cannot be, let us be practical. 
Let us not forget that much as we would have it otherwise, the school life of the 
American boy must of necessity be so changed as to teach him how to get a living." 

The foregoing well expresses the views in this respect of the Commission. 

It has been said, in effect, that our schools should concern themselves with 
the cultural and intellectual education of the youth, that manufacturers prefer 
to train their own employees, that agricultural labor should be left to some lower 
order of workers typified by "The Man with the Hoe," and that Vermont should 
continue to send her brilliant sons beyond her borders and shine by their reflected 
glory. Such a policy is suicidal. In these days of conservation of natural resources, 
one who advocates the dissipation of the state's greatest natural resource, the 
brain and brawn of her own children, is totally out of touch with the signs of the 
times. Vermont's unequalled contribution to the development of other com- 
munities, by the emigration for more than a century of many of her best intellects, 
is and always will be a source of just pride. Today, however, the state through 
modern developments in manufacturing and agriculture, is face to face with 
opportunities nowhere excelled. She is no longer merely the "Old Home" state; 
she is the "At Home" state. Vermont's chief duty today is so to train her youth 
that they may .seize and develop these crying opportunities for their own certain 
private benefit as well as for her advancement as a soverign state. The United 
States Commissioner of Education in his latest report well says that "the demand 
is becoming more and more insistent that in the American democracy, a common- 
wealth where, in theory at least, to be a producer forms the first claim to citizenship, 
productional training shall be given to all children in the light of their aptitudes 
and needs and in the light of the requirements of society." 

For the performance of this duty, the Commission adojjts the recommendations 
of the Carnegie Foundation (page 133), as follows: 

"A wise program in the formation of vocational schools would seem to be, first, the 
reform of the pubUc school system so that the youth of Vermont may be educated 
toward the occupations of the comnmnities in which they live; secondly, the estab- 
lishment at each of the proposed regional (senior) high schools, in its four-year junior 
division, of a high grade vocational course in agriculture for boys from 12 to 16 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 37 

years of age, and in its senior division of advanced courses for older pupils; * * * " 

It will be noticed that agriculture as a vocation is given emphasis in this pro- 
gram of vocational schools, and we think rightly so. It has been said that Ver- 
mont is not an agricultural state. Vermont is and always ought to be primarily 
an agricultural state. According to the Thirteenth Census of the United States, 
Vermont, compared with other states — the leading states of the country in the 
various departments of agriculture — more than holds her own. 

Vermont's dairying industry compares most favorably with that of Wisconsin, 
the leading dairying state. Assuming that Vermont had as many dairy cows 
in 1909 as she had in 1910, the value of all her dairy products for each dairy cow 
(excluding milk and cream used at home) was in the former year $45.68 as against 
$36.57 in Wisconsin; she produced from each dairy cow 431 gallons of milk as 
against 311 gallons in Wisconsin. 

The A'alue of Vermont's cereal crop in 1909, per acre of all cereal lands, was 
$19.70, while the same value in Illinois, the leading state in the production of 
cereals, was $17.99; her corn crop in 1909 was 40 bushels per acre of corn lands, 
of the value of $25.30, while the corn crop in Illinois, the largest corn-producing 
state, was only 39 bushels per acre, of the value of $19.74; she produced 21 bushels 
of wheat per acre of wheat lands, of the value of $21.06, while North Dakota the 
leading state in wheat production, had only 14 bushels of wheat per acre, of the value 
of $13.33;she produced 30 bushels of oats per acre of oat lands, of the value of $16.35, 
while Iowa, the leading state in the production of oats, had only 28 bushels of 
oats per acre, of the value of $10.53; she produced 27 bushels of barley per acre 
of barley lands, of the value of $21.33, while Minnesota, the leading state in the 
production of barley, had only 22 bushels of barley per acre, of the vahie of $11.00; 
she produced 15 bushels of rye per acre of rye lands, of the value of $13.03, while 
Michigan, the leading state in the production of rye, had only 14 bushels per acre, 
of the value of $9.41; she produced 23 bushels of buckwheat per acre of buck- 
wheat lands, of the value of $15.94, while New York, the leading state in the pro- 
duction of buckwheat, had only 20 bushels per acre, of the value of $12.53. 

Vermont's product of hay and forage, although less than that of Iowa, the lead- 
ing state in the production of that crop, exceeds in value per acre the hay and 
forage of Iowa, Iowa's crop per acre being valued at $11.76, Vermont's at $15.85. 
Furthermore, in the production of hay and forage Vermont's product per acre of 
grass lands exceeds that of any other New England state as well as the State of 
New York, the second largest producing state. Vermont raises 1.46 tons per acre 
of grass lands, while New York raises 1.40 tons per acre. 

New York, the largest producer of potatoes in the countrj% raises 123 bushels 
per acre of potato lands. Maine produces 210 bushels per acre. Of all the New 
England States and New York, Vermont, in the production of potatoes per acre 
of potato lands, is second only to the state of Maine. Vermont's product is 144 
bushels per acre. 



38 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Of the New England States, Vermont is second only to the State of Maine in 
the value of her forest products. 

Vermont produces 40,953 gallons of maple syrup and 7,726,817 pounds of maple 
sugar. In the production of maple syrup she ranks third among the states of 
the Union, and in the production of maple sugar she far outranks any other state, 
making 54.95 per cent of all the maple sugar made in the United States. 

When it is considered that Vermont's crops were grown from only 73.7 per 
cent of her improved farm lands, that from 1900 to 1910 these lands decreased 
to the extent of 492,659 acres, and that, in spite of such decrease in acreage of 
improved land, the value of her crops from 1899 to 1909 increased 51.1 per cent, 
it is clear that the opportunities for agricultural development are truly wonderful. 

Objection to the exploitation of Vermont as an agricultural state comes from 
those who maintain that the state is primarily industrial and that her greatest 
future prosperity lies in the development of manufacturing within her borders. 
The question is not academic but vitally practical in the adoption of a policy of 
vocational education. It is certain that the distant future can hardly be foreseen; 
it is equally certain that the vocational needs of the state are now mainly 
agricultural. 

For a proper comparison to determine whether the state is agricultural or indus- 
trial, several bases have been suggested. It is claimed that the number of persons 
engaged in the vocations of agriculture and manufacturing, compared, will 
show that Vermont is primarily industrial; but this is not a true basis, for 
while there may be more persons in the state who obtain a livelihood from indus- 
trial work than from agricultural work, it is the respective values of these two 
vocations to all the people of the state that should be considered. It is also claimed 
that the value of farm properties compared with the value of industrial properties, 
is determinative of the question. The inquiry on this basis, however, can be 
nothing but .speculative, for it involves on the one hand the value of Vermont's 
agricultural resources if fully developed and, on the other hand, the value of her 
natural resources of stone and mineral deposits and her undeveloped water powers. 
If the amount of investment in these respective vocations is a criterion, then our 
agricultural interests have an investment of $145,399,728, while $73,470,000 rep- 
resents the amount of our industrial investment; and recent statistics show that 
the amount of capital invested in manufacturing in Vermont increased, from 1904 
to 1909, 17.5 per cent, while the capital invested in agriculture increased, from 
1900 to 1910, 34.1 per cent. It seems clear that the one true basis of comparison 
is that disclosed by the value of the state's products in these respective vocations. 

In the industrial vocation this value appears in the amount of value added by 
the process of manufacture. The United States Census Bureau well says that 
this figure best represents the net wealth created by manufacturing operations; 
and it is the net wealth of a state in any development that counts. In agricul- 
ture the value of the products well represents the net wealth of agricultural acti\-i- 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 39 

tics in the state. In manufacturing, however, a large part of the value of the 
product represents the value of the materials used, many of which have been pro- 
duced by agriculture. In agricultural operations, on the other hand, the product 
does not in any appreciable degree include the value of materials furnished by 
some other development, but represents something developed directly from the 
natural resources of the state. 

The net wealth of the state, thus created by its manufacturing operations in 
1909, was $33,487,000. In compiling the value of agricultural products to be 
compared therewith, every product that can be said in any way to include the value 
of "materials" has been eliminated, as, for example, the value of poultry ($759,362), 
the value of domestic animals slaughtered on farms ($1,468,345), the value of 
domestic animals sold ($5,990,550), and the value of all forest products ($3,638,637). 
With such elimination, the value of Vermont's agricultural products in 1909, that 
is, the value resulting from agricultural processes, is as- follows- 

Value of dairy products (excluding all milk and cream used on the 

farm producing) $12,128,465 

Value of wool products 192,002 

Value of goathair or mohair products 136 

Value of eggs 1,715,221 

Value of honey 25,351 

Value of wax 815 

Value of crops (excluding forest products) 23,808,299 



Total $37,870,289 

The net wealth of the state created by manufacturing operations in 1909 was, 
as seen, $33,487,000, while the net wealth of the state created by its agricultural 
operations in that year was $37,870,289, a very material excess. 

Moreover in this comparison manufacturing is given an undue advantage, for 
its figures include $16,005,000 net wealth created by manufacturing in marble and 
stone, lumber and timber, and dairy and grist-mill products. Furthermore, in 
comparing the relative importance of manufacturing and agriculture, the common 
conception of manufacturing as an industry does not include such activities as 
the production of marble and stone, lumber and timber, and dairy and grist-mill 
products. 

Taken on this basis, it is apparent that agriculture and products taken out of 
the earth bring to the state not only a larger amount of net wealth than manufac- 
turing, but an overwhelming excess of wealth as compared to manufacturing. 

Here, then, is a present certainty. The state is agriculturally predominant and 
predominantly agricultural today. Where does her greatest future prosj)erity lie? 
Is it, as claimed, in the development of her water powers? She has a wonderful 
endowment of undeveloped water power resources, but their utilization will require 



40 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

the investment of large amounts of capital in the construction of vast storage basins, 
and when, as now, water power generated into electric power is transmitted two 
hundred miles without appreciable loss, the development of these water powers 
does not necessarily mean the building and operation of manufacturing establish- 
ments. Vermont does not need large communities of industrial workers as mar- 
kets for her agricultural products. By the recent extension of the parcel post 
system, her farm produce and products will surely find an insatiable market beyond 
her own borders. In the light of present facts and future probabilities, the Com- 
mission believes that vocational education should be emphatically directed to the 
training of the youth of the state in scientifically practical agriculture. 

The statutory provision that "no person shall be deprived of public school advan- 
tages on account of age," is of special significance in the matter of vocational 
training in agricultural pursuits. It sanctions the undertaking of agricultural 
extension work as a part of our public educational system for the purpose of giving 
to the men and women actively engaged in farming the benefit of scientific research 
in agriculture. Under recent federal legislation, the State Agricultural College is 
enabled to carry on one form, at least, of such extension work, namely, by actual 
demonstrations on his own farm, or on some farm in his vicinity, to take to the 
farmer the results of the research work of the experiment station. The state may 
well undertake, as a part of vocational training in agriculture, to extend agricul- 
tural education to her farmers by appropriations to the State Agricultural College 
to be used, not only in the training of agricultural teachers for the senior high 
schools — discussed elswhere in this report — but in cooperation with the federal 
extension work. The importance of educational effort of this character can not 
be over estimated. The Special Report of the College of Agriculture of the Univer- 
sity of Maine for the Commissioner of Agricidture for the year 1913 well says: 
"The function of the College Extension Service is something more than the promo- 
tion of agriculture; it is the organization and developemnt of the industry. It 
aims not only to spread agricultural truths, but to set agricultural truths at work. 
It believes in the 'business' of farming and therefore deals with agriculture from 
the economic standpoint. Its slogan is, — 'Greater profits in farming'." That 
institution in 1!)13, in connection with extension work, inaugurated with markedly 
successful results its Farm Demonstration Work, of which the report says, "It 
appears to be one of the most practical and resultful plans thus far found, to spread 
and actually set at work fundamental truths in successful farming." In the prac- 
tical operation of such extension work the farmer learns what he himself can do 
by his own labor on his own land. It means better and consequently more profi- 
table results from his own labor on his own farm. Compared with vitally active 
extension work in agriculture, the establishment of so-called model or practice 
farms is of negligible importance. It is not what the farmer may learn by leaving 
his own acres and visiting an institutional farm, but what he observes of the results 
of his own efforts, under intelligent advice and supervision, upon his own acres. 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 41 

that is primarily important. Model or practice farms, however, may well be 
developed in connection with the vocational departments of the senior high schools, 
for the purposes of experiment and instruction. 

The report of the Carnegie Foundation recommends the establishment of special 
vocational schools in agriculture of the type of the State Agricultural School at 
Randolph. The Commission believes that the state should now direct its effort 
along this Hne, not to the establishment of other schools of this type, but to the 
improvement and enlargement of the school already established. In the Randolph 
school the state has laid the foundation for a school of practical agricultural and 
vocational training, and although its present equipment is inadequate, its work, 
to the extent of its appropriations, has been creditable. The predominance of 
agriculture among the industries of the state, however, requires that this school 
be adequately equipped and generously supported, so that under a competent 
staff of efficient instructors its work shall place it among schools of the first rank 
in practical agricultural training. Until this is accomplished, the state should 
take no measures toward the establishing of other schools of agriculture, thereby 
duplicating the work of the school at Randolph and conducting two or more only 
partly efficient schools. It would seem too clear to require argument that one 
wholly efficient school must first be had before others of the same class can reasona- 
bly be considered with favor. 

The training given should be practical. Its graduates should be fitted to operate 
a farm not as an exposition of scientific agriculture, but as a business of practical 
farming using the aids thereto furnished by the discoveries of science in the field 
of agriculture. In other days the farmer taught his boys on the farm — not always 
consciously — something about dairying, live-stock, rotating crops, and the like — 
information more or less inexact that he had picked up from observation and 
experience. In these days, however, modern science, practically applied, gives 
exact information in many matters of this sort, and in others, so approximately 
near as to be practical knowledge essential to successful farming. The graduates 
of this school should be able to tell what a given soil needs to make it most fertile 
and what crop is most suited to it; they should be able to identify noxious weeds, 
plant diseases, insect pests, and the common ills of live-stock, and to combat them 
successfully; they should be trained judges of breeds more commonly kept; they 
should know how to determine the cost of keeping and the value of dairy products 
of each dairy cow independent of milk and cream tests at the creamery; they 
should be able to determine the profit or loss of any given part of the business of 
farming as actually conducted; and, in short, to do skilfully everything on the 
farm that untrained farmers have hitherto done more or less unskilfully. To this 
end its equipment and teaching staff should be much increased and strengthened 
and its annual appropriations should be sufficient to meet the necessities of the 
institution. 

Its course should be emphatically agricultural and, at the same time, broadly 



42 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

vocational in manual training. Today manufacturing operations are largely- 
made up of special mechanical work; and it requires little or no special training 
to operate the near-human machinery of modern industry. For the present, at 
least, public vocational education in the industries should be directed, not toward 
training in manufacturing industries of more or less speciaUzed operations, but 
toward making the youth skilful in manual work, and toward training them to 
fashion things by hand-craft, not to operate machinery. A boy trained in practical 
agriculture should, as incident thereto, be sufficiently trained in carpentry, in 
blacksmithing, in masonry including work in cement, and the like, to be able to 
meet the conditions on the farm when such work is required to be done economi- 
cally and without unnecessary delay. 

The Commission's recommendations respecting vocational education may be 
summarized as follows: 

1. The instruction in the public schools to be of that character to educate the 
youth toward the occupations of the communities in which they live. 

2. The establishment in the junior high schools of semi-vocational courses offer- 
ing opportunities for instruction in commercial subjects, domestic science, manual 
training, and agriculture, appropriate to the needs and environment of the particu- 
lar school. 

3. The establishment in the senior high schools of high grade courses in agricul- 
ture, together with courses in manual training, commercial subjects and domestic 
science. 

4. The strengthening of the equipment and teaching staff of the State Agricul- 
tural School and the increase of its appropriations; and the development therein 
of courses in manual training, incident to agricultural training, and in some measure 
fitting for the pursuit of the manual trades as vocations. 

5. State appropriations to the State Agricultural College for the purpose of: 
(«) Training teachers in agriculture for the high schools; (6) Cooperating with 
the federal extension work in agriculture. 



VII 
TRAINING OF TEACHERS AND SUPERVISION 

In the furtherance of the work of the survey of Vermont's educational system 
and conditions, the Commission requested over two thousand persons in the state 
to express their best judgment as to the essential matters that should first receive 
attention in order to enable the schools of the state to render the most effective 
service to the children and to the people of the state. Out of 940 replies received 
in response to these requests, 313 specified "better trained teachers," 156 specified 
"higher salaries for teachers," and 148 specified "more efficient supervision;" and 
these three expressions of judgment were the strongest numerically in the order 
named. It is clear, therefore, that the teacher is universally regarded as the key- 
stone of the educational arch. A survey of the educational system ultimately 
reveals the crucial importance of efficient teachers who, above schools, books, 
equipment and courses of study, are the source of right instructions. 

As already noticed, the vital problem of elementary-school instruction rests not 
in the subjects taught, but rather in the failure to adapt the things taught to the 
daily experiences and needs of the child. The solution of this problem demands a 
teaching staff sympathetically familiar with those experiences and needs and fitted 
by training to bring the child where he will automatically apply his instruction to 
them. To meet this demand the state now maintains two so-called normal schools 
and aids the teacher-training courses in the secondary schools. The most favorable 
view to be taken of this situation reveals a duplication of effort the correction of 
which is as important in the public schools as in institutions of higher learning. 
The Commission might review the discussion in the Carnegie Foundation's report 
and the very lucid and convincing statement contained in the last Vermont School 
Report made by the superintendent of education, relating to the deficiences of the 
normal schools in essential facilities for observation and practice and to the local 
instead of state-wide, character of their patronage, as ample reasons why these 
schools should no longer be continued. In all that the Commission heartily concurs. 

Above all other considerations, however, the practical question of how to secure 
a sufficient number of suitable teachers is now of first importance. The state 
needs about 400 new teachers annually for its elementary schools and the report 
of the Carnegie Foundation points out that the present normal schools have utterly 
failed to meet this need. The report says: 

"Where is Vermont to look each year for 400 new and well-trained teachers 
to conduct her elementary schools in decent fashion.'' * * * The solution of the 
problem has hitherto been sought in two directions. For nearly fifty years three, 
and more recently two, low-grade normal schools have been merely reviewing 
elementary school subjects; pupils directly from the elementary schools have 
formed the great bulk of attendance, and during the ten years 1903-12 the three 
schools together averaged 87 graduates annually from this 'lower course.' * * * 



44 TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

From their 'higher course,' which alone deserves recognition here, the three schools 
have had during the same ten years an average combined annual output of eight, 
or, including regraduates and specials, fifteen! What are these among 400?" 
The report also shows that in 1913 Johnson and Castleton together graduated 
72 teachers: 18 from the new two-year course for high-school graduates, 30 from 
the new "lower course" (equivalent to a four-year high school course), and 24 
from courses still lower. Of the 72 graduates in 1913, the report says: "Of these 
practically all of the higher course graduates are teaching in graded schools; 49 of 
the 54 others are in rural schools." The lower courses are thus doing the same 
work as teacher-training courses in training teachers for the rural schools. That 
the tendency of the normal schools is not toward the training of teachers in advance 
of the training courses, but in competition therewith appears from their output in 
1914, as follows: 

Castleton Johnson Total 

84 





Castleton 


Johnson 


Toto 


Graduates 


36 


48 




Two-year course for high school 








graduates 


8 


7 


15 


Lower or elementary course 


28 


41 


69 



84 

High .school graduates in lower course 26 30 56 

Not high school graduates in lower 

course 2 11 13 

69 

The higher course graduates were 15 as compared with 18 in 1913, and the lower 
course graduates, who were graduates of high schools or academies at the time of 
taking the normal course, were 56 as compared with 30 graduates in 1913 from the 
course called equivalent to a four-year high school course, although in fact there 
were no graduates in 1913, who were graduates of high schools or academies, except 
the graduates from the higher course. In other words, the output of the higher 
course has decreased, while the output of the lower course in direct competition 
with, and duplication of, the work of the teacher-training courses in the high schools, 
has increased from 30 to 56. Despite this increase and without regard to the 
financial waste consequent upon such duplication, it may well be asked, what are 
those 55 among 400? If the normal schools were turning out a large number of 
teachers more highly trained for elementary school teaching than the graduates 
of the teacher-training courses, they might justify themselves, although they 
would not be meeting the crying need of the state for hundreds of teachers annually 
for the rural schools. But their tendency today is to attempt vainly to meet this 
need, when, in the light of the great success attending the training of teachers in 
high schools and academies (hereinafter discussed), the one work justifying their 
existence, namely, the training of a considerable number of teachers for elementary 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 45 

school teaching of a higher grade, is a work they are not doing and one which the 
state does not greatly require. 

The United States Commissioner of Education, in his report for 1913 says ; 

"A recent law in Vermont, by allowing recognition to training courses in high 
schools equal to that accorded to the two normal schools, apparently tends to lower 
the standard for teaching in that state." 

Such a tendency, however, is apparent only, and the appearance is due to the 
fact that the chief work of the normal schools has been of no higher standard than 
that more recently done in the training courses, and that the normal schools, upon 
the establishment of the training courses, have magnified the work of their lower 
course in direct competition with the work of the training courses, and have treated 
as of less importance the work of their higher course, w hich alone entitles them in 
any measure to the name of normal schools. The statement of the United States 
Commissioner of Education, in speaking of the different kinds of institutions called 
normal schools, that "There is a need, if not for some delimitation of function, 
certainly for some distinguishing standard with which to classify institutions so 
different, yet bearing alike the name of 'normal school,' " is particularly applicable 
to our own institutions at Caslleton and Johnson. 

Without more particular reference the Commission firmly believes that the dis- 
cussion of the report of the Carnegie Foundation respecting the normal schools is 
wholly sound. The Commission, therefore, recommends the discontinuance, as 
normal schools, of the two institutions now conducted at Johnson and Castleton. 

As early as 1876 the idea of educating school teachers by instructing them in the 
public schools was enacted into law. By No. 49 of the Acts of 1876, it was provided 
that any graded school, organized by special act and situated in a county where 
there was no normal school, might establish, in connection with such graded school, 
a training school department for the instruction and training of teachers. The state 
superintendent of education was empowered to arrange two courses of study, one 
to include instruction and practice in the science of teaching all branches required to 
be taught in the common schools, the other to include instruction and practice in 
higher branches to be prescribed by him, in addition to the branches of the first 
course. It was provided that certificates of graduation should be granted to all 
who should pass the required examinations in either course, the certificates of 
graduation from the first course and the second course to have the effect of licenses 
to teach in the common schools for five years and ten years respectively, such 
examinations to be conducted by the state superintendent of education and two 
other officials named, who were constituted a board to revoke the licenses upon 
cause shown. The trustees of the graded school district were required to make 
annual reports to the state superintendent of education of the number of students 
in the training school department, the number of certificates granted in each 
course, and "all matters pertaining to the regulations and government of said 
training school department." 



46 TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

Here was the seed of legislation looking toward a supply of teachers for the 
common schools in connection with regular school activities. By the revision of 
the statutes in 1880, however, this seed was crowded out by the growth of normal 
school legislation. The two courses were treated conjunctly with the normal school 
course, and admission to the higher course was made dependent upon graduation 
from the lower course and a full exercise of the five-year license to teach then 
issued. It is clear that in this way the higher course in the training school was 
practically wiped out. By No. 9, Acts of 1888, that part of the Revised Laws, 
respecting licenses to teach issued to graduates of the training school, was repealed 
and no provision was made for issuing certificates to such graduates; and it was 
expressly enacted that no person should teach a public school without a certificate. 
In other words, the state continued its provision for training teachers in its public 
schools but forbade them to teach after being trained, until 1894 when the training- 
school graduates were made eligible to certification as formerly. Thus the law 
stood until repealed in 1906. 

To what extent the provisions of the Act of 1876 were taken advantage of through 
its unsteady career, it does not appear. Its legislative history indicates that it 
received no encouragement from the advocates of teacher-training in normal schools 
and that as a plan for supplying the state with teachers for the common schools, it 
was ineffective through failure of proper support. It aimed to train teachers for 
the schools of the state, as did the normal schools; but while the latter were sup- 
ported by the state and were provided with competent instructors, the former re- 
ceived no state aid and had no special instructors competent to train teachers. 

In 1910, the idea of training teachers in the public schools was re-enacted into 
law. It was provided that high schools and academies of the first class, in connec- 
tion with their regular work, might establish and maintain a teacher-training 
course under the direction and with the approval of the superintendent of education 
who should prescribe the curriculum and appoint the special teacher therefor. The 
element of practice teaching, provided by the Act of 1876 but immediately lost in 
the legislative shuffle, was recognized, it being required that no such course should 
be approved unless there were at least three elementary graded schools available 
for observation and practice purposes. That the legislation is of state concern, 
appears from the requirement that the students to be taught shall be willing to 
teach in the public schools of the state and from the provision for state aid to the 
extent of $800 whenever the high school or academy expends, in addition thereto, 
at least $200 in salary for such special teacher. In 1912 the law was materially 
broadened and strengthened. The teacher-training course in the secondary school, 
at first an experiment of doubtful value to many friends of education, has already 
proven its worth as a source of supply to meet the requirements of the elementary 
schools. Its graduates have the requisite training in the science of teaching and 
for the most part, have kept in touch with the rural environment. In the two years 
following its establishment it put 249 teachers in the field — 229 of them into rural 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 47 

schools, and respecting its work in 1912, the report of the Carnegie Foundation 
says : — 

"On the whole, the state certainly did vastly better for its purpose with its invest- 
ment of $8,600 in the 126 training-class graduates in 1912, than in the $20,000 that 
it put into the 14 'higher course' and 28 'lower course' graduates from the normal 
schools during the same year." 

The teacher-training course has proved the most efficient and the most economi- 
cal way of training teachers for the elementary schools. Of this the Commission 
is firmly convinced by information received, not only through the report of the 
Carnegie Foundation, but independently of it. After thirty-five years — years in 
which the normal schools, despite strong moral and financial support, have utterly 
failed to furnish an adequate supply of trained teachers — the idea of training 
teachers for the schools in the schools, formulated in suitable legislation, has 
developed into a successful fact. The Commission strongly advocates the imme- 
diate increase in the number of teacher-training classes with a two-year course, 
the establishment and development of which the Commission believes to be one of 
the most important functions of the secondary schools selected therefor. 

Given an adequate supply of trained teachers, the teacher's tenure of position 
is a consideration of great importance, for upon it depends the growth of that sub- 
conscious intercourse "between teacher and pupil, indispensable to good instruc- 
tion. To be successful, the teacher must know the minds and hearts of her pupils, 
and they must feel that they are known by her. It may not be an overstatement 
to say that the work of a teacher for a single term in a new school is almost valueless 
instructively, even though — as doubtless too often happens — she does not thresh 
over the dry straw left by her predecessor. Closely related to the matter of tenure 
of position is that of teachers' salaries. It is said that Vermont, of all the states of 
the Union, stands forty-third in the average annual salary of public school teachers 
and that the majority of rural teachers receive an annual salary of $250 to $350. 
The standard of the salary of elementary school teachers should be materially 
raised, especially in the rural sections. In these matters a very grave responsibility 
rests upon local boards of school directors, a responsibility not commonly met 
because, probably, not appreciated. The report of the Carnegie Foundation says 
that the amount of teachers' salaries and the manner of payment should be pre- 
scribed and guaranteed by the state, and that they should be subject to state in- 
spection and criticism. The Commission approves the suggestion that the state 
should prescribe the manner of payment and believes that the amount should be 
subject to state inspection and criticism. The fixing of the amount, however, 
should remain within the province of the local authorities, subject to the super- 
vision of the board of education. That "the elementary school teachers should 
work under conditions controlled by the state" is a recommendation which the 
Commission heartily endorses with respect to the teacher's tenure of position. 
School teachers, in either the elementary or secondary school, should be assured of 



48 TRAINING OF TEACHERS 

their positions during good behavior and should not be permitted to change their 
locations in the state except to receive an increase of salary — and then only at the 
end of the school year; provided that by the sanction of regulations therefor, to be 
established by the board of education, teachers might be removed for cause shown 
not affecting their behavior and might change their locations in the state for cause 
shown, regardless of salary. Assured of reasonable compensation and stability of 
position, the work of the teacher will become more professional, and consequently 
more efficient. 

The report of the Carnegie Foundation treats the teacher-training courses as a 
source of supply of teachers for the rural elementary schools and recommends the 
establishment of a central training-school for teachers in the higher grades of urban 
schools in the junior high schools. The report also recognizes the fact that such 
a central training-school is not now indispensable. It says: "In Vermont it would, 
of course, be quite possible to continue as heretofore and allow the better positions 
in the state to be filled by a process of natural selection from merit in the lower 
grades or from material attracted from abroad." In its discussion of the normal 
schools the report says: "Vermont has tried in vain for fifty years to bring pupils 
to her training-.schools; when she takes the training-schools to the pupils there is 
response at once." Experience, therefore, cautions against the establishment of 
a special training-school. The Commission is strong in the belief that training of 
the character proposed for such a central training-school is the only kind of normal 
training the state should undertake, now or hereafter, in a special institution there- 
for, and that such training when given should be in a single, strong, well-equipped 
central institution. Without, however, in any way discouraging the establish- 
ment of such an institution whenever the needs of the state in this class of teachers 
require it, the Commission is of the opinion that the teacher-training courses in the 
secondary schools will amply meet the teaching requirements of the elementary 
schools, both rural and urban, and of the earlier years of the junior high schools, 
all of which are now within the class of elementary schools. If it be thought that 
the graduates of the teacher-training courses will not be equipped to teach in the 
junior high schools, it would appear to be entirely feasible to train teachers for the 
junior high schools — for the earlier years even — in the way recommended elsewhere 
for the training of teachers for the .secondary schools, for under the proposed new 
classification of schools, the junior high schools are secondary schools no less than 
the senior high schools. 

The training of secondary-school teachers is discussed under the title, "Middle- 
bury College." 

Supervision 

As respects the work of superintendence and supervision, it is interesting to note 
that Vermont was one of the pioneer states in the adoption of a state system of 
supervision. In 1845, the legislature, by a single enactment (No. 37, Acts of 1845), 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 49 

provided for a comprehensive and cooperating system of school supervision by 
town superintendents, appointed by the freemen of the towns at their annual 
March meeting, by county superintendents, appointed annually by the judges of 
the county courts, and by a state superintendent, appointed annually by the 
General Assembly. 

As this work requires a thorough appreciation by the superintendent of the per- 
sonality of the teachers, the importance of permanency of position is apparent. 
The Commission fully endorses the system of school unions for the improvement 
of instruction by union superintendence. Heretofore, the establishment of such 
unions has been optional with the school directors of neighboring towns, the towns 
not within a union having a town superintendent of schools as formerly. The 
efhciency of instruction, the general improvement in school buildings, surroundings 
and equipment, the arousing of a united interest among the teachers, in the schools 
of a union, are considerations that lead the Commission to recommend a compulsory 
unionization of schools. It seems likely that of about sixty towns now outside of 
school unions, most of them can conveniently become a part of unions already 
formed. So far as possible a center of population of a sufficient number of schools 
should be a union in itself. Uniformity of work in the schools of a union is desirable, 
and to this end the superintendent's tenure of office should be stable. We endorse 
what is said in this respect in the report of the Carnegie Foundation : 

"Superintendents who have shown acceptable ability should be assured per- 
manent tenure of office. In every case their dependence for office should be re- 
moved as far as possible from local influences." As representatives of the state 
board of education, their election and also their dismissal should be subject to 
governing regulations by that board. This is so now by statute. Acts of 1912, No. 
62, Sec. 12. 

In addition to the system of superintendence by unions, and broadly supplement- 
ing it, we advocate a close state supervision by trained, capable supervisors em- 
ployed by the commissioner of education and responsible only to him and the super- 
intendent in whose union they may be engaged. Their work should not be con- 
fined to any particular section of the state; their field of oversight should be changed 
frequently. They should not be inspectors merely, but should "spend their time 
in the schools, assisting the teachers and demonstrating proper methods," and 
withal they should see that hj'giene regulations are properly observed, a matter 
requiring especial attention in the rural schools. 



VIII 
AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 

To make the operation of the system of education consistent and uniform through- 
out the commonwealth, giving all the children of the state approximately equal 
advantages; and to maintain the system constantly and progressively as a function 
of government essential to the general welfare of the state, involves a provision for 
administrative agency and control. This administrative power should be com- 
mensurate with the educational regulations established. It should be free from 
all influences but those affecting the welfare of the state as a whole, and therefore 
competent to deal with school problems exclusively from the standpoint of the 
public educational provisions of the state. To be efficient in meeting all the needs 
of all the people, regulations should have due regard to the courses of study in the 
elementary, secondary, and vocational schools to adapt them to the life and con- 
ditions in the state; to the specific training of teachers to supply the demands of the 
elementary and the secondary schools; and to such thorough supervision of the 
entire public school work as will insure wise direction, proper counsel, true en- 
couragement, and correction of undesirable methods and results. These and 
other essentials to the efficient administrative direction and control of the educa- 
tional instrumentalities of the state, can be most surely achieved through a strong 
state board, supporting and cooperating with a scientific educator of ability and 
experience, as its chief executive officer. 

Throughout its whole history, Vermont has definitely committed itself to the 
suitable education of its children and youth for independent and responsible citizen- 
ship. From the start it recognized public education as a "fundamental social 
policy" and sovereign duty. In providing for a system of public education the 
school district was early made the unit of organization; and the administrative 
control was delegated by the state through its legislature to such restricted areas. 
This continued for many years to meet in reasonable degree local conditions and 
the needs of the children of the state, and was therefore satisfactory to the people; 
but with the changes in population, in the growth of centers of population, and in 
other conditions affecting social life, there arose demands for a larger unit of ad- 
ministration, looking to a greater equalization in educational advantages as well 
as in the burdens. To meet these demands the legislature of 1870 enacted laws 
permitting the present town systems; but it was not compulsory until 1892, since 
which time, by general law, the town has been the unit of organization for school 
affairs throughout the entire state. Yet, as seen, the real educational unit is the 
state, and the subject of the maintenance and support of common schools is one 
which the state in its sovereign character is bound to sustain. 

Though the state has always recognized the duty to give its children equal educa- 
tional opportunities, this has not always been the result of endeavors, because of 
physical conditions, the uneven distribution of the school population, and the un- 



AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 51 

equal valuations of assessable property in the several towns and cities. To meet 
and correct the inequalities arising from the various causes, the state has sought 
from time to time, in effect, to distribute the burden more evenly to cover the whole 
state, to the end that the children in towns financially unable to bear the entire 
burden of schools therein, which in number and quality would answer the require- 
ments of law, might have the educational advantages contemplated and to which 
they were entitled. This object has but partly been accomplished. In further- 
ance of the essential purpose to regulate the school system so as to afford all the 
children in the state as nearly equal educational advantages as circumstances will 
reasonably permit, regardless of the size or financial ability of the town or city in 
which they live, the state should take upon itself to a greater extent than ever 
before, the burden of the schools, and a more extended and more critical super- 
vision and control affecting every part of the state. 

The state is vitally concerned with the proper enlightenment of its children. Its 
integrity and progress can be insured only by a system of free public education that 
will reach all and train them to a knowledge of the life, conditions, and opportunities 
within the state. Those towns and cities where wealth is concentrated must, to a 
greater extent than heretofore, bear a just proportion of the burden of public educa- 
tion throughout the state, that educational facilities may be uniformly distributed. 
The original conception of duty, the historic tendencies, and the common needs of 
today all point clearly to greater state responsibility and larger state control in 
public school affairs. This brings us back to the fundamental right of every child 
to be adequately educated for life and its opportunities; and the inherent respon- 
sibility of the state to make sure provision for the due and proper education of all 
its children. 

Specific supervision of the common schools of Vermont was not undertaken until 
1827 when the legislature created the first state board of commissioners for common 
schools. This board was discontinued in 1833. Twelve years without super- 
vision having elapsed, the oSice of state superintendent of common schools was 
estabHshed in 1845, it being filled by appointment of the legislature. In 1851 the 
legislature declined to appoint a state superintendent and for a period of five years 
the state again exercised no general supervision over its common schools; but in 
1856 there was enacted a law creating the state board of education. This board 
continued to govern until 1874 when it was abolished and the office of state super- 
intendent of education was substituted for it. From 1874 to 1913, the superin- 
tendent of education, elected by the legislature, was the responsible power to define 
educational policies, formulate rules for their application and to supervise methods, 
check up results, and remedy errors in practice. The legislature of 1912-13 dis- 
continued this method and created the existing board of education. 

Vermont's experience in its administration and supervision of its common 
schools has been irregular and subject to frequent changes, tending to impair eflB- 
ciency and obscure the worth and importance of this necessary feature of an effec- 



52 AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 

tive public school system. This failure to assume definite and constant respon- 
sibility for inspecting and guiding the common schools as an essential instrument 
of public welfare, has in late years been recognized by many thoughtful citizens, 
and there has been an intelligent and persistent effort made to awaken public senti- 
ment to the needs of a positive and constructive state policy, that shall provide 
adequate organization for the administration, inspection, and helpful supervision 
of all common and special schools within the scope of the public educational system. 

In recent years the movement has been strong in many states, east and west, 
toward the centering of increased authority in state boards and trained educational 
officers. This is the response of the public to a quickened realization of state 
responsibility to foster educational interest and activity through right financial aid, 
in elementary, high, vocational, and special schools; and to exercise a wise and 
salutary supervision that shall contribute to more uniform conditions and better 
school advantages. 

As a part of this nation-wide search for greater efficiency and more equal oppor- 
tunity, the plan, once generally employed, of placing the public schools of the 
state under the general control of a superintendent of public instruction, elected by 
the people or chosen by the legislature, has given place to the plan that puts the 
public school organization under the general management of a small school board 
appointed by the governor, with or without legislative confirmation. 

Vermont has had ample experience in both methods. By enactment of its 
present legislature it is aligned with the most modern thought, and the administra- 
tion of its public school system is committed to a board of education composed of 
five members who are appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of 
the senate, for the term, two for two years, two for four years, and one for six years, 
the board to appoint a superintendent of education whose term of oSice is three 
years and until his successor is appointed and qualified; but the partial and uncertain 
authority of this board over the different factors entering into the efficient opera- 
tion of the state's educational system, makes a well conceived, definitely formulated, 
and effectively executed state educational policy difficult if not impossible. 

This administrative board is the central and authoritative agent of all of the 
people of the state. It must be representative of the whole and not of a part. 
It must stand for the educational interests of all of the state's children; and for the 
welfare of every factor contributing to the educational integrity and progress of 
the state. Its powers should be sufficiently large and its responsibilities sufficiently 
great to meet the needs of the whole people within the law pertaining to public 
educational regulation and administration. Its members should be able, represen- 
tative, experienced in the affairs of life, familiar with conditions in Vermont, and 
free from other connections making for local, political, or institutional prejudice, 
or in any way opposed to public welfare in its widest educational sense; but not 
necessarily expert in educational principles and practice. 

This board should be made up of laymen of eminent fitness and standing, not 



AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 53 

otherwise employed in educational service, and who will not allow political con- 
siderations to enter into or influence the ofiicial actions. Its membership should 
not include persons connected with, or representatives of, educational institutions 
or other special educational interests, and there should be no ex officio member. 
The members should serve without compensation, except that they should be reim- 
bursed for their necessary expenses when engaged in the performance of the duties 
of the office. 

A central board of administration so constituted will embody the truest and 
wisest expression of personal service in behalf of public good and educational ad- 
vancement; it will command state-wide trust and confidence; and membership in 
it will be regarded by the public as evidence of eminent capacity for the services 
to be performed. Yet to make certain the high character of the board and to in- 
sure permanent effectiveness of its policies, plans, and activities, the members 
should be subject to removal by the Governor for cause, such as incompetency, 
failure to discharge duties, malfeasance, immorality, or other just cause inimical 
to the welfare of the public schools. 

Having created a board of education, composed of the type of persons and given 
the powers as herein indicated, the state should delegate to it the exclusive admin- 
istrative government and control of the entire public school system; and impose 
upon it the duty of administrating this trust in conformity to law, and to the true 
spirit, intent, and meaning of the educational policy of the state. The state should 
commit the administrative authority over the whole educational system to this 
central board, with the right to select and employ trained and skilful executive 
officers competent to be entrusted to formulate educational plans in broad outline 
and in detail; to supervise curricula for elementary, secondary, vocational, and 
special schools now existing or which may hereafter be established under the laws 
of the state; to prepare courses of instruction to be given in teacher-training classes 
in secondary schools, for the preparation of teachers for elementary schools; to 
prepare courses to be given in departments of institutions of higher learning, for 
the preparation of teachers for secondary schools or for the teaching of agriculture; 
and to administer, inspect, and supervise the entire educational organization and 
work, over which the state gives to the board general administrative authority. 

It should be the province of the board to supply sound judgments, to furnish 
wise counsel, and to stand as a firm protection to the whole educational organiza- 
tion against influences either within or without, harmful to its highest efficiency. 
It should be the right and duty of the board to act in all matters pertaining to the 
operation of the public school system upon conference with its chief executive 
officer; and to approve or disapprove recommendations made by him relating to 
administrative policy. The board should exercise reasonable diligence to know 
that its executive officers are discharging their duties in a true educational spirit 
and without bias or influence from other considerations. 

The effectiveness and final results of the educational system will depend largely 



54 AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 

upon the character and personnel of the board of education, and the skill, capacity, 
and adaptability of the executive officers chosen by that board to act under it. 
Hence the first and supreme function of the board will be to choose these officers of 
administration. The staff should consist of a commissioner of education and at 
least two competent deputies, who are experts in various phases of educational 
work, to be in constant touch with the superintendents and the teachers, for the 
purpose of inspection, advice, instruction, encouragement, and inspiration. 

The commissioner should be a man "of such special training, of such varied educa- 
tional experience," with such a record of successful achievement, and with such 
breadth of capacity as will qualify him, under the supervision and approval of the 
board, to formulate and execute the responsible duties connected with the operation 
of the school system, looking to the best results. He should be selected with an 
eye single to his fitness and capacity to render large and effective service to all the 
people, as the first executive officer of the board. He should serve for an indefinite 
term and be subject to dismissal only upon a four-fifths vote of the whole member- 
ship of the board; and there should be attached to the ofiice a salary to be determined 
by the board in such an amount as will secure and hold a skilful, efficient, and suc- 
cessful man. The expert deputies to assist the commissioner and needed to make 
the school organization efiicient, should be appointed by the board upon the nomina- 
tion of the commissioner and removed upon his motion formally presented and 
cause shown, and their salaries should be fixed by the board. 

The board, acting through the commissioner of education and his deputies, 
should have general administrative control of the whole educational system of the 
state, including schools, departments, or classes provided by the board for the 
training of teachers in any phases of the educational work. Such oversight should 
include the preparation of a budget for educational expenses; the enforcement of 
laws relating to the effective operation of the schools; the classification, unification, 
and separation of schools; "the establishment of uniform records and reports, the 
determination of the qualifications of teachers and their certification * * *, and 
the recognition of certificates and diplomas from other states;" the supervision of 
the expenditure of all state money for educational purposes; and the inspection of 
all institutions receiving state money and reporting upon their use of such funds. 

The board should establish a uniform system of supervision by reorganizing or 
discontinuing present supervision unions, or by creating new* unions, to the end 
that all towns shall be included in unions, and that the number of schools and 
amount of work to be performed in the various unions shall be approximately equal; 
and approve of union superintendents, determine their salaries, discontinue, trans- 
fer or promote them as circumstances may demand. 

"The board in cooperation with the state board of health," or on its approval, 
"should establish standards for the construction, arrangement, and sanitary equip- 
ment of school buildings and school sites; and should direct the medical inspection 
and study of public health as far as the schools are concerned." 



AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 55 

The board should adopt and provide for a method by which the people of the 
whole state may be informed as to the conditions and opportunities of all the 
schools within the scope of the system of public instruction; and such other educa- 
tional publicity as may, in the judgment of the board, contribute to the enlighten- 
ment and well-being of the citizens of the state. It should likewise make provi- 
sion for all proper educational gatherings, institutes, summer schools, etc., that 
the supervising and the teaching forces may have such opportunity for association, 
instruction, and inspiration as may be necessary for a healthy and progressive 
development of the state's educational interests. 

This Commission recommends, therefore, that the existing board of education 
be so reorganized as to provide a board of five members appointed by the Governor, 
one member for the term of five years, one for the term of four years, one for the 
term of three years, one for the term of two years, and one for the term of one year, 
and at the expiration of a term, the term of office should be five years; that the 
membership shall consist of laymen of the type herein suggested; that the board 
shall be given plenary administrative powers, within the law, over the whole educa- 
tional system and organization of the state, and be charged definitely with the 
responsibility of providing, through a commissioner of education and at least two 
deputies, for the effective administration of the educational policy of the state; that 
provision be made for such compensation to the commissioner and his deputies 
"as shall guarantee the service of a progressive educational leader" with competent 
assistants; that proper appropriations be made to enable the board of education to 
carry out the provisions of the law respecting the establishment and maintenance of 
elementary and secondary schools throughout the state, and respecting all other 
matters connected with, or essential to, the efficient operation of such schools, 
including the preparation of teachers, and supervision of schools; and for the pay- 
ment of salaries of all officers and of clerical assistance employed by said board in 
connection with the administrative work of, or under, the board, including the 
expenses of the board, and the members thereof; and since all items of cost can not 
be correctly estimated in advance, that a reasonable sum of money be placed at the 
disposal of the board at the outset to be accounted for subsequently in detail to the 
state. 



X 

UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT AND STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

1. Its Chabacter — Public or Private 

It has been much urged on the part of the University of Vermont and State Agricul- 
tural College, that it is a state university, that is, a public, not a private, corporation, 
and therefore entitled as a matter of right to state support. This question so bears 
on the rights, duties, and obligations of that institution, which it is, by statute, the 
duty of this Commission to determine, as to require a careful examination of the 
character (that is, whether public or private) of the University of Vermont and the 
Vermont Agricultural College, two pre-existing corporations which united in form- 
ing the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, held by the Supreme 
Court of the state (in University of Vermont and State Agricultural College against 
Baxter's Estate, found in 42d of Vermont Reports, page 99,) to be a new corpora- 
tion. This constitutes our justification for the space given to these matters in this 
report. 

The president of the last named institution, delivering an address before the 
Commission, said: — 

"The University of Vermont has been from the beginning of its existence a State 
University. The facts of history are full and sufficient demonstration of this pro- 
position. The university is the only institution of this type in Vermont and, there- 
fore, claims its right as the culmination and consummation of the public school 
system to serve this state in the same way that institutions of similar character 
serve their several states." 

It should be here stated that a corporation is a creature of the state granting its 
charter, endowed with such faculties as the state bestows and subject to such con- 
ditions as the state imposes, and if the power to modify the charter is reserved, the 
reservation is a part of the contract; and the highest court in this state has said, 
"that such a reservation affects the entire relation between the state and the cor- 
poration, and places under legislative control all rights, privileges, and immunities 
derived by its charter directly from the state, including its very existence; but that 
rights and interests acquired by the corporation, not constituting a part of the con- 
tract of incorporation, and so not derived directly from the state, stand on a differ- 
ent footing, and are not thereby subjected to legislative contract." Lawrence v. 
Rutland Railroad Co., 80 Vt. 370. 

In connection with our discussion of the elementary and secondary schools, we 
quote sections 40 and 41 of chapter II of the Constitution of 1777, show ing that the 
former section, after requiring the establishment of a school or schools in each town 
by the legislature, declared that "One Grammar School in each County, and one 
University in this State, ought to be established by Direction of the General 
Assembly;" and the latter section, among other things, declares, "And all religious 



ITS CHARACTER 57 

Societies, or bodies of men, that have, or may be hereafter united and incorporated, 
for the Advancement of Religion and Learning, or for other pious and charitable 
purposes, shall be encouraged and protected in the Enjoyment of the Privileges 
Immunities and Estates, which they in justice ought to enjoy, under such Regula- 
tions as the General Assembly of this State shall direct." We also quote from the 
Constitution of 1786, showing that the provisions of the above mentioned sections 
40 and 41, so far as retained, were united to form section 38, of chapter II, in the 
new Constitution; that said section 38, after the clause requiring the maintenance 
of schools in each town, declares: "and one or more grammar schools be incorporated, 
and properly supported, in each county in this State. And all religious societies, 
or bodies of men, that may be hereafter united or incorporated, for the advancement 
of religion and learning, or for other pious and charitable purposes, shall be en- 
couraged and protected, in the enjoyment of the privileges, immunities, and 
estates, which they in justice ought to enjoy, under such regulations as the General 
Assembly of this State shall direct." Thus it is seen that the provision contained 
in the earlier Constitution that county grammar schools "ought to be established 
by Direction of the General Assembly," was changed so as to read that they "be 
incorporated, and properly supported." In other words, the public character of 
these schools contemplated by the provisions of the Constitution of 1777, was 
neither contemplated nor required by the provisions of the Constitution of 1786. 
The provision in the earlier Constitution that "one University in this State, ought 
to be established by Direction of the General Assembly," was not carried into the 
Constitution of 1786, and has not since the adoption of that Constitution been any 
part of the organic law of the state. This Constitution contained no provision 
looking to the establishment of a university by the state. The only declaration 
therein that can fairly be said to comprehend an institution of higher learning is, 
that "all religious societies, or bodies of men, that may be hereafter united or in- 
corporated, for the advancement of religion and learning, or for other pious and 
charitable purposes, shall be encouraged and protected, in the enjoyment of the 
privileges, immunities, and estates, which they in justice ought to enjoy, under such 
regulations as the General Assembly of this State shall direct." The extent of this 
provision (so far as need be noticed) is, that institutions for the advancement of 
religion and learning "shall be encouraged and protected," as therein specified. 
Exclusive of the land specifically granted for the benefit of Dartmouth College, 
there were in nearly every town charter granted by the State of Vermont, rights 
reserved to several public uses therein named, one of which rights (quoting from 
what seems to be a typical charter in this respect) was "for the use of a seminary 
or college," and one "for the use of county grammar schools within said state," 
which said two rights "for the use of a seminary or college, and for the use of county 
grammar schools, as aforesaid, and the improvements, rents, interests, and profits 
arising therefrom, shall be under the control, order, direction and disposal of the 
General Assembly of said state, forever." 



58 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

It is a matter of history that in 1785, EHjah Paine of Williamstown presented a 
memorial to the legislature, proposing the donation of two thousand pounds towards 
a college or university, on certain conditions, one of which was that said college 
or university be in the township of Williamstown. The matter of this offer ran 
along without receiving consideration by that body. At the session of the legis- 
lature in 1789, Ira Allen presented a memorial for a college, from which we quote 
the following : 

"Having Honorable views toward the Public, and having a desire to make the 
Place I have chosen for my residence Respectable by the establishment of Liberal 
Arts & Sciences, I therefore name Burlington for that purpose. 



"That so great an object may soon be affected, I offer to the Public four thousand 
pounds on the following conditions (viz) that the Legislature * * * Establish the 
place for erecting a College in this State at or within two miles of BurUngton Bay 
in the County of Chittenden and appoint Trustees for the same — 

"I bind myself my Heirs Executors and administrators firmly by these Presents, 
to pay to the Trustees of sd College the sd sum of four thousand Pounds, one 
Thousand of which is to be paid in a proper square of Lands sufficient to Erect all 
the Public buildings on, to form a handsome Green and convenient gardens for the 
officers of College, the Price of this tract of Land to be estimated by the major part 
of sd Trustees and the remaining part of sd Thousand pounds is to be paid to sd 
Trustees in provisions, materials and Labor in Erecting the Public Buildings, the 
remaining three Thousand pounds to be Paid to the sd Trustees in New Lands that 
will rent in produce, that is Wheat, Beef, Pork, Butter or Cheese Payable to the 
Trijstees of sd College for the annual Interest at six Percent of sd Three Thousand 
pounds — " 

In connection therewith he, Ira Allen, presented subscriptions from sundry other 
individuals for the same purpose, to the amount of one thousand six hundred fifty 
pounds, making a total of five thousand six hundred fifty pounds. It is said in a 
note to an Historical Discourse defivered by Rev. John W'heeler, D. D., President 
of the University of Vermont from 1833 to 1849, on the occasion of the Semi- 
centennial Anniversary of that institution, that these various subscriptions from 
other individuals "are in his (Ira Allen's) handwriting, and were all obtained by his 
active and personal attention to the business." 

Thereupon such steps were taken that an act incorporating the University of 
Vermont was passed November 3, 1791. 

This act declared that the Governor of this state, the speaker of the house of 
representatives for the time being, and the president of the university when elected, 
should be ex officio trustees, and together with the ten other men named, (one of 
whom was Ira Allen,) and such others as should be appointed in manner and to the 



ITS CHARACTER 59 

number thereinafter directed, should form and constitute the board of trustees for 
the said institution, to be known by the name and style of the Corporation of the 
University of Vermont. The said corporation and their successors in office were 
constituted a body corporate and poUtic, with the usual corporate privileges and 
powers, including self perpetuation; and with full power to take by gift, grant, pur- 
chase, or devise, any estate whether real or personal, for the use of the said univer- 
sity, "and to take charge of, lease, rent, and improve to the best advantage, all such 
grants as have been already made by the authority of this state, for the use and 
benefit of a college," and also to receive and appropriate such donations as had 
been, or thereafter should be made, for the use of the institution. 

The charter as granted does not show that the University of Vermont, in its 
establishment, received any property from the state, beyond what arises, if any, 
from the phrase above quoted, fairly and properly construed. 

The facts show that the charter of that corporation was granted at the instance 
of Ira Allen, and that the public buildings of the institution were erected on land of 
his gift, and designated by him, as before seen, for that purpose. 

Who was the ferjicievt founder of this institution? is an important question. 
The circumstances previously existing are not only interesting, they are instructive 
in reaching right conclusions. When Elijah Paine made his offer aforementioned 
toward a college or university to be located at Wilhamstown, the Constitution of 
1777, requiring one university to be established by direction of the General Assembly 
as a part of the public school system of the state, was in force. Thompson (in 
his History of Vermont, Part 2, page 145) says the subject of this offer was post- 
poned, "and the legislature could not be brought to take the matter into serious 
consideration till the October session in 1789." Whether the delay originally was 
in anticipation of a change in the Constitution, we need not conjecture. In the 
minds of some who have given the matter more or less study, the reason for the 
change seems enveloped in mystery. The reason is of little moment here, except 
as it may shed light upon subsequent actions and events. As viewed by the Com- 
mission, the most cogent reason is found in the conditions and the economic neces- 
sities of the people in the state. Under the Constitution of 1777, the public school 
system included town schools, county grammar schools, and a state university; 
The section relating thereto was entirely rewritten in the revision of the Constitu- 
tion in 1786, eliminating the element that seems to have placed upon each town the 
burden of maintaining the schools established therein, making proper use of school 
lands; leaving county grammar schools to be incorporated and properly supported, 
hke academies, as private institutions; and dropping out altogether the provision 
pertaining to the establishment of a state university. 

Only a little more than half of the five years immediately following the signing 
of the definitive treaty between Great Britain and the United States, (called by John 
Fiske in his book entitled, "The Critical Period of American History," page 55, 
"the most critical moment in all the history of the American people,") had elapsed. 



60 UNIVERSITY OF VERiMONT 

Though Vermont was then an independent state, she had not only fought against 
the mother country in the Revolutionary War, but she was being sorely troubled 
by New York, a condition threatening the homes, property, and prosperity of her 
people, destined to continue for some time to come and to be the chief obstruction 
to her admission into the Union. She was not admitted until February 18, 1791 
less than nine months before the charter of the University of Vermont. Let us 
quote from Thompson's History of Vermont: (Part 2, page 79). 

"The condition of Vermont at this period (years immediately following the end 
of the war), was much better than that of the confederated states. She had 
managed to pay her own troops during the war, by the avails of her public lands 
and other means, and having no connection with Congress, no part of the burden 
of the public debt of the United States rested on her. But she was not equally 
exempt from the other causes of dissatisfaction, which operated in the confeder- 
ated states. Many of the people, though possessed of houses and lands, were, in 
other respects, in low and straitened circumstances and so much incumbered with 
debts, that their immediate payment in the presents scarcity of money, would 
require the sacrifice of all they had, and reduce themselves and families to a state 
of penury and starvation. Thus situated, it is not surprising, that the spirit of 
opposition to the judicial authority, which had manifested itself in the neighboring 
states, should make its appearance in Vermont. 

"So early as the spring of 1784, a convention from several towns was assembled 
at Wells, by which sundry resolutions were passed in relation to the general suffer- 
ings and embarrassments of the people, and a liberal amount of execration was meted 
out to the lawyers and sheriffs, but no disposition was manifested in this state to 
oppose the collection of debts by force till the year 1786. During the summer of 
this year, the sufferings of the people becoming severe and their complaints loud, 
on account of the extreme scarcity of money. Governor Chittenden in the month 
of August published an address to the inhabitants of the state, which was evidently 
dictated by a paternal regard to their welfare and happiness. In this address he 
earnestly exhorts the people to be industrious and economical — to avoid as much as 
possible the purchase of foreign productions, and to give their attention to the 
raising of flax and wool, and the various necessaries for food and clothing; and he 
expresses the anxious hope that by their prudence and diligence — by their mutual 
forbearance and kindness — together with such assistance as the legislature should, 
at its next session, be able to afford, — their sufferings would be brought to a speedy 
termination, and themselves become a prosperous and happy people. 

"In October, the legislature met at Rutland, and measures, designed to relieve 
the pecuniary embarrassments of the people, occupied a large share of the session. 
* * * But these several acts and resolutions did not serve to quiet all the people; 
for there were many who did not intend to be compelled to pay their debts in any 
way, and they judged it the shortest method of avoiding payments to prevent the 
.sitting of the courts, in which judgments and executions might be obtained against 



ITS CHARACTER 61 

them; and two attempts of this kind were made shortly after the session of the 
legislature at which the above acts and resolutions were passed, one in the county 
of Windsor, and the other in the county of Rutland." 

In speaking of the education of the early settlers of Vermont, Thompson says 
(Part 2, page 141): "Few of the early settlers of Vermont enjoyed any other ad- 
vantages of education than a few months' attendance at primary schools, as they 
existed in New England previous to the revolution. But these advantages had 
been so well improved, that nearly all of them were able to read, and write a legible 
hand, and had acquired sufficient knowledge of arithmetic for the transaction of 
ordinary business. They were, in general, men of strong and penetrating minds, 
and, clearly perceiving the numerous advantages, which education confers, they 
early directed their attention to the establishment of schools. But for many years 
there were obstacles, in addition to those incident to all new settlements, which 
prevented much being done for the cause of education. The controversies in which 
they were involved and the war of the revolution, both of which threatened the 
annihilation of Vermont as an independent state, and the ruin of many of the 
settlers by robbing them of their farms, employed nearly all their thoughts and all 
their energies, previous to their admission into the federal union." 

At the session of the legislature in October, 1781, an Act was passed enabling the 
inhabitants of the several towns within the state to levy on the lands therein such 
tax or taxes as they should agree to, not exceeding, in the whole, two pence per acre, 
for the purpose, among other things, of building school houses. This seems to have 
been the first enactment in this state authorizing the laying of taxes for purposes 
pertaining to public education. At the session of the legislature in October, 1782, 
a general law was passed, providing for the division of towns into convenient school 
districts, and for the appointment of trustees in each town for the general super- 
intendence of the schools, and to have charge of any property or funds held by the 
town for the purposes of town schools, and to render an account of their doings, to 
the town, as often as required. The Act further provided for the election of a 
prudential committee by the inhabitants of each district, which committee was 
empowered to raise one-half the money necessary for building and repairing a school 
house and supporting a school, by a tax assessed on the grand list, and the other 
half, either on the list or on the polls of the scholars, as should be directed by a vote 
of the district. By the same Act the judges of the county courts, in their respective 
counties, were empowered to appoint trustees of county schools, who should have 
the same powers in all matters relating to their trust, as trustees of town schools, 
and should in like manner, be accountable to the judges by whom they were respec- 
tively appointed. And said judges, calling to their assistance the justices of peace 
in their several counties, were given the power to lay a tax on the same "for the 
purpose of building a county school house. To be collected by warrant by the 
state treasurer in the same manner as state taxes are." 

Thompson says, (page 141) "The part of this plan relating to county schools 



62 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

seems never to have been carried into effect; Init that in relation to town schools, 
was gradually introduced and improved, till schools, which may be called free, were 
established in all the organized towns in the state." 

An examination of the early statutes shows, that so much of the law of the said 
Act of 1782, as related to county schools and laying taxes for the purpose of building 
county school houses, continued in force until the rising of the February session of 
the legislature, 1787; that an Act establishing the Constitution of 1786 as the Con- 
stitution of Vermont, was passed March 3, 1787; and that "An Act for Appointing 
and Supporting Schools," was passed March 8, 1787, one clause of which reads, 
"And the Judges of the County Courts, in their respective counties, shall have 
power to appoint Trustees of countj' schools, who shall have the same powers, in all 
matters relating to their trust, as Trustees of town schools, and shall be in like 
manner accountable to the Judges by whom they were respectively appointed." 
But it did not authorize the laying of taxes for the purpose of building county 
school houses. 

The county schools referred to in the Act of 1782, and also in this Act of 1787, 
must have been the county grammar schools mentioned in the Constitution. What 
action on the part of the state, in addition to that of changing the Constitution 
itself, could be more indicative of a purpose to change the educational policy of the 
state than the facts, that during the existence of the first Constitution, when county 
grammar schools were a part of the public school system and there existed a statute 
permitting the assessment of a tax for the building of county school houses for such 
schools, the law was never carried into effect; that when the Constitution was 
changed, excluding from the public school system county grammar schools and a 
state university, the statute permitting the laying of a tax to build county school 
houses, was no longer retained in force; and that thereafter (the first, in October, 
1787,) county grammar schools were incorporated in nearly or quite all of the differ- 
ent counties in the state, severally supported by grants from the legislature of the 
use and benefit of grammar school lands in counties where such lands exist — all, 
like academies, private institutions, for the maintenance of which, so far as the 
Commission is aware, there has never been a law permitting a tax to be laid. Is 
it not reasonable to say, therefore, that the change in the Constitution marked a 
change in public policy consequent on the conditions and economic necessities of 
the people? 

It is said by Mr. Justice Story in the great case of Dartmouth College against 
Woodward, reported in the 4th of Wheaton, page 518, that what is deemed a 
foundation, and who is the founder, cannot be stated with more brevity and exact- 
ness than in the language of Sir William Blackstone in his Commentaries on the 
Laws of England, and he quoted from Book 1, page 480, as follows: 

"The founder of all corporations, in the strictest and original sense, is the 
king alone, for he only can incorporate a society; and in civil incorporations, such 
as mayor and commonalty, etc., where there are no possessions or endowments 



ITS CHARACTER 63 

given to the body, there is no other founder but the king; but in eleemosynary 
foundations such as colleges and hospitals, where there is an endowment of lands, 
the law distinguishes, and makes two species of foundation; the one fun datio inci- 
pieng, or the incorporation, in which sense the king is the general founder of all 
colleges, and hospitals; the other /wnc/a^jo perficiens, or the dotation of it, in which 
sense the first gift of the revenues is the foundation, and he who gives them is in 
law the founder: and it is in this last sense that we generally call a man the founder 
of a college or hospital." It has been held in England, by the Privy Council (In 
the Matter of the Endowed Schools Act, and In the Matter of the St. Leonard, 
Shoreditch, Parochial Schools, found in 10th Appeal Cases, page 304), that where 
a charity is established by subscriptions, the original subscribers alone are the 
founders; but that it is quite impossible to attribute this character to those who 
come after them, whether they contribute to the building fund or any other fund 
in aid of the existing charity or not; that it is reasonably plain that when a foun- 
dation be once started, though by small beginnings, everything afterwards added, 
which is not an endowment for a new and special purpose, must be taken to be 
upon the footing of the original foundation. 

At the time Ira Allen presented his memorial for a college at Burlington he 
was 38 years old. Since before the adoption of the Constitution of 1777 he had 
been preeminently active in civil, military, and diplomatic affairs of the state, 
and had become probably the wealthiest man in the state, having landed estate 
lying mostly along the lake of over 200,000 acres, some of which was in Burlington. 
Being thus prominent and financially able, it is not strange that he should think 
of founding a college in Burlington, the town of his future residence, and for that 
purpose offer to give four thousand pounds, specifying in the original instrument of 
endowment that one thousand of it "is to be paid in a proper square of Lands to 
Erect all the Public buildings on, to form a hand.some Green and convenient gardens 
for the officers of College, * * *" One comprehends the munificence of this gift 
when one considers that (in the language of Professor John Ellsworth Goodrich, 
in the "Centennial Oration," delivered Commencement Day, June 29, 1892, on 
"The Life and Public Services of General Ira Allen,") "Harvard College rests 
upon an original appropriation by the colony of but four hundred pounds, and its 
name is a magnificent monument to the man by whose will it received some eight 
hundred pounds and a small library"; and (in the language of Robert D. Benedict, 
in an oration delivered upon the Centennial Anniversary, June 24, 1891,) "The 
largest donation received by Harvard, up to 1836, was only half as large." 

In the same connection Mr. Benedict further says concerning the gift of Ira 
Allen and the University of Vermont: "His subscription was by far the largest part 
of all the subscriptions; and the subscriptions were substantially the only founda- 
tion of the university. The legislature in granting the charter did indeed give to u^ 
it the lands which had been reserved in the various township grants for the use 
and benefit of a college, which amounted to a little more than had been granted 



64 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

to Dartmouth College. But these grants were of little avail for the expenses of 
beginning. * * * 

"As I have said, the legislative grant of lands was of little avail at first. It 
was stated in a report made by the trustees to the Legislature in 1804, that the total 
amount of money which they had actually received from these lands granted by 
the Legislature had been $79.42, or about $7 a year for the thirteen years which 
had passed since the charter was granted. 

"The university was, therefore, put in motion with funds contributed by indi- 
vidual citizens, and the subscription of Ira Allen may be well considered its corner 
stone. * * *" 

The views expressed by Mr. Goodrich, an honorable, able, and efficient pro- 
fessor in the university for many years, and now a professor emeritus, are even 
more emphatic in the same direction. In his oration, from which we have already 
quoted, he further said: 

"The founding of the University of Vermont was but an incident, albeit a 
most important one, in Allen's contribution toward the building of the State. 
His sagacious mind clearly discerned the true relations between education on the 
one hand, and patriotism and politics on the other. A complete intellectual inde- 
pendence would tend to strengthen and consolidate that moral and political inde- 
pendence which should characterize a self-governing community. 



"Allen selected as a location for the future University a lot of 50 acres, one of 
the sightliest in all the Champlain Valley. Portions of it were alienated in the 
early days from time to time for reasons which one can recall only with mingled 
sorrow and indignation, until only an acre and a half remained. 

"One of the reasons which in 1797 Allen urges for the speedy determination 
of his suit before the Admiralty Court, (in England,) was his desire to 'erect public 
buildings for the University of Vermont,' the materials for which he had already 
caused to be prepared. 'These are kept,' he says, 'in a state of ruinous suspense 
by my absence.' 



"If I venture to suggest to the honorable board of trustees the propriety of 
ordaining that from this time forward, the first of May, the natal day of Ira Allen, 
shall be set in the calendar of the University of Vermont as Founder's Day, to 
be observed as a holiday forever, significant at once of her origin, and of the new 
life pulsing continually in her veins of perennial and ever bourgeoning prime, I 
have small fear that any alumnus will enter his protest against the innovation, or 
that the under-graduate body will petition against such use of one day in the year 
in grateful recognition of our debt to our earliest benefactor." 



ITS CHARACTER 65 

This suggestion of Professor Goodrich seems to have been acted upon by the 
board of trustees at their next annual meeting, June 27, 1893. The records of 
that meeting contain the following: "On motion it was voted that the faculty be 
instructed to arrange, in their discretion, for the due observance of Founder's Day." 
And the current number of its catalogue, the University of Vermont and State 
Agricultural College refers to Ira Allen as "the founder of the university." 

In addition thereto, the Commission understands that in accordance with the 
suggestion of Professor Goodrich and pursuant to said vote, "Founder's Day" 
has hitherto been annually observed. 

Notwithstanding this, it is said in a brief, presented to the Commission by 
the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, that the offer of Ira 
Allen in his memorial is to give the sum named "to the public;" and that he under- 
stood that the university was to be a state institution, is thus established. A fair 
construction of the words named can be had only by viewing the whole instrument. 
In a previous paragraph. General Allen says: "Having Honorable views toward 
the Public, and having a desire to make the Place I have chosen for my residence 
Respectable by the establishment of Liberal Arts & Sciences, I therefore name 
Burlington for that purpose, * * * 

"That so great an object may soon be affected, I offer to the Public four thou- 
sand pounds on the following conditions * * * 

"I bind myself my Heirs Executors and administrators firmly by these Presents, 
to pay to the Trustees of sd College the sd sum of four thousand Pounds," etc. 

In the Dartmouth College case counsel for the defendant insisted that the bene- 
ficial interest in the property given to that institution was in the people of New 
Hampshire. There the charter runs thus: "Know ye therefore, that we, consider- 
ing the premises, and being willing to encourage the laudable and charitable design 
of spreading christian knowledge, * * * and also that the best means of education 
be established, in our province of New-Hampshire, for the benefit of said province, 
do of our special grace," etc. Thereupon Chief Justice Marshall said: "Do these 
expressions bestow on New-Hampshire any exclusive right to the property of the 
college, any exclusive interest in the labors of the professors? Or do they merely 
indicate a willingness, that New-Hampshire should enjoy those advantages, which 
result to all from the establishment of a seminary of learning in the neighborhood? 
On this point we think it impossible to entertain a serious doubt. The words 
themselves, unexplained by the context, indicate, that the 'benefit intended for 
the province' is that, which is derived from 'establishing the best means of educa- 
tion therein;' that is, from establishing in the province Dartmouth College, as con- 
stituted by the charter." 

The words "for the benefit of said province," there used, are stronger looking 
toward a jmblic institution in the legal sense than the words of Ira Allen, "to the 
public." It is very apparent that he used the word "public," as he did in the 
first paragraph quoted, in its popular sense, for the establishment of a college at 



66 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

Burlington, not as a strictly public institution, but as an institution which should 
inure to the public good, by the general promotion of learning. It is said by the 
Supreme Court of this state (in Franklin County Grammar School against Bailej', 
found in G'id of Vermont Reports, page 467, and quoting from the Dartmouth 
College case,) " 'The objects for which a corporation is created are universally such 
as the government wishes to promote. They are deemed beneficial to the country; 
and this constitutes the consideration of the grant.' " 

The obligation is contained in the next paragraph, and it is, "I bind myself 
* * *, to pay to the trustees of sd College, the sd sum," etc. 

It is further said in the same brief that by the charter of the University of Ver- 
mont, lands were granted by the state to that corporation, and hence the foundation 
was public, and the fact that Ira Allen contributed to the foundation does not 
affect its character; that "it was the established principle of the common law that 
if the King and a private individual joined in endowing a charitable corporation, 
the King alone was the founder thereof." 

This position taken in the brief requires careful examination along the lines 
there indicated. It will be called to mind that in the granting of the charter of the 
University of Vermont, that corporation was given full power "to take charge of, 
lease, rent, and improve to the best advantage, all such grants as have been already 
made by the authority of this state, for the use and benefit of a college." It con- 
tained no provision either expressly or impliedly giving that institution the right 
to appropriate to its own use and benefit said lands or the income therefrom. The 
power given was more in the nature of that of an agency to take charge of, lease, 
etc., said lands as there directed. Beyond that, the matter of these lands and the 
rents, interests, and profits arising therefrom, were yet under the control, order, 
direction, and disposal of the General Assembly. It is said by the Supreme Court 
of the United States (in the case of Newton against Board of County Commissioners 
of Mahoning County, found in the 100th of the United States Reports, page 548), 
that "No grant can be raised by mere inference or presumption, and the right 
granted must be clearly defined. * * * The rule of construction in this class of 
cases (public grants) is that it shall be most strongly against the corporation. 
Every reasonable doubt is to be resolved adversely. Nothing is to be taken as 
conceded but what is given in unmistakable terms or by an implication equally 
clear. The affirmative must be shown. Silence is negation, and doubt is fatal to 
the claim. This doctrine is vital to the public welfare." The same doctrine is 
discussed and applied by that Court in the recent case of Blair against Chicago, 
found in the 201st of the United States Reports, page 400. 

That the lands had not in terms been granted to the use and benefit of the Univer- 
sity of Vermont, seems to have been understood, for on November 10, 1802, an Act 
was passed, entitled "An act in addition to, and explanation of an act, entitled 'an 
act for the purpose of founding a University at Burlington,' passed the third day of 
November, A. D. one thousand seven hundred and ninety one." 



ITS CHARACTER 67 

The preamble and section 1 of this Act of 1802, read : — 

"Whereas doubts have arisen, whether the corporation of the University of Vermont, 
have a right to appropriate, to the use and benefit of said university, the rents and profits 
of all such lands as have been already granted and reserved, by the authority of this 
state, for the use and benefit of a college, or for the use and benefit of a seminary or 
college. And, Whereas it is thought necessary, that further additions be made to said 
act for said university — Therefore, 



SECTION I 

"It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, That the cor- 
poration of the University of Vermont, is hereby vested with full power, right and 
authority to take charge of, lease, rent, and appropriate to the use and benefit of the 
University of Vermont, all such lands as have been already granted and reserved, 
by the authority of this state, for the use and benefit of a college, or for the use and 
benefit of a seminary or college; and the same to continue, until the further order 
of the legislature." 

It will be observed that the legislature did not, by this Act, undertake to declare 
the construction of the provision of the charter empowering the University of 
Vermont "to take charge of, lease, rent, and improve to the best advantage, all 
such grants as have been already made by the authority of this state, for the use 
and benefit of a college." Without saying anything about the construction of the 
charter as it existed in this respect, the legislature enacted an amendment thereto 
in terms materially different from the original charter. The words "and improve 
to the best advantage, all such lands," etc., are changed to read, "and appropriate 
to the use and benefit of the University of Vermont, all such lands," etc., thus, in a 
distinct manner, in terms, changing the pre-existing provision; nor was this all: 
there were added the words of limitation, "and the same to continue, until the 
further order of the legislature." As thus amended, the charter remained until an 
Act was passed on November 2, 1810, by which the corporation was vested with 
full power, right, and authority, to take charge of, etc., and appropriate all such 
lands to the use and benefit of said university /orei.'er, the same Act expressly repeal- 
ing section 1 of the Act of 1802, quoted above. In view of the said provision of the 
original charter, and the provisions in the said amendatory Acts, relating to the 
same subject-matter, it is not apparent to the Commission how it can be said from 
a legal standpoint, that in the original charter power was granted to appropriate 
said lands, or the rents and profits therefrom, to the use and benefit of the University 
of Vermont. 

Lest it be said, however, that in granting the charter of that corporation, the 
intention of the General Assembly was to include within the power vested the right 
to appropriate said lands to the use and benefit of that institution, and that it was 
always so treated before the passage of the said Act of 1802, and that it should be 



68 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

so treated now, we assume all this to be true and discuss the matter from that point 
of view. 

Concerning the principle of law invoked in the brief of the University of Vermont 
and State Agricultural College, that if the King and a private individual join in 
endowing a charitable corporation, the King alone is the founder, Mr. Serjeant 
Stephen, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, Vol. 3, page 26, states as 
follows : "And if the sovereign and a private man join in endowing an eleemosynary 
foundation, the sovereign alone shall be the founder of it; for here the royal pre- 
rogative prevails." This same principle is stated by Sir William Blackstone, in his 
Commentaries, Vol. 1, page 481. Mr. Serjeant Stephen further says (Vol. 2, page 
465), "By the word prerogative w*e are to understand the character and power which 
the sovereign hath over and above all other persons, in right of his regal dignity; 
and which, though part of the common law of the country, is out of its ordinary 
course. This is expressed in its very name, for it signifies, in its etymology, some- 
thing that is required or demanded, before, or in preference to, all others; and, 
accordingly. Finch lays it down as a maxim, that the prerogative is that law in case 
of the king, which is law in no case of the subject." 

Jacob's Law Dictionary defines the word "prerogative" as follows: "By the 
word Prerogative is usually understood, that special pre-eminence, which the King 
hath over and above all other persons, and out of the ordinary course of the common 
law, in right of his regal dignity. It signifies, in its etymology from prae and rogo, 
something that is required or demanded before, or in preference to all others. And 
hence it follows, that it must be in its nature singular and eccentrical; that it can 
only be applied to those rights and capacities, which the King enjoys alone in con- 
tradiction to others; and not to those which he enjoys in common with anj' of his 
Subjects : for if once any prerogative of the Crown could be held in common with any 
subject, it would cease to be i)rerogative any longer. Finch, therefore, lays it down 
as a maxim, that the prerogative is that law in case of the King, which is law in no 
case of the subject. Finch, L. 85. 

"Prerogatives are either direct or incidental. The direct are such positi\'e sub- 
stantial parts of the royal character and authority, as are rooted in, and spring 
from, the King's political person, and of which we are about to state the law at some 
length. But such prerogatives as are incidential bear always a relation to some- 
thing else, distinct from the King's person, and are indeed only exceptions in favour 
of the Crown, to the general rules establLshed for"the rest of the community; * * * 
Other incidental i)rerogatives are, that where the title of the King and a common 
person concur, the King's title shall be preferred. 1 Inst. 30." 

"* * * it hath been established as a rule, that all prerogatives must be for the 
advantage of the people, otherwise they ought not to be allowed by law. Moor 672; 
Show. P. C. 75." 

Though .so much of the common law of England as is applicable to our local 
situation and circumstances, and is not repugnant to the Constitution or the laws, 



ITS CHARACTER 69 

is the law in this state, yet in the judgment of the Commission this principle of 
the King's prerogative, which is out of the ordinary course of the common law and 
places the sovereign before, or in preference to, all others in this respect, is not appli- 
cable to our local situation and circumstances, and therefore it is not a part of the 
common law of this state. IMoreover, it seems that this law of prerogative (in- 
voked in the brief) is not recognized in this country. 

In the case of The Bank of the United States against The Planters' Bank of 
Georgia, in 9th of Wheaton, 904, the action was brought on promissory notes; 
one question was, whether the circumstance that the State of Georgia and certain 
individuals were members of the defendant bank, brings the cause within the clause 
of the Federal Constitution giving jurisdiction to the Supreme Court where the 
state is a party. The opinion by Chief Justice Marshall contains the following: 

"It is, we think, a sound principle, that when a gos-ernment becomes a partner 
in any trading company, it devests itself, so far as concerns the transactions of that 
company, of its sovereign character, and takes that of a private citizen. Instead 
of communicating to the company its privileges and its prerogatives, it descends to 
a level with those with whom it associates itself, and takes the character which 
belongs to its associates, and to the business which is to be transacted." 

In the case of Downing against the Indiana State Board of Agriculture, decided 
by the highest court of the State of Indiana, found in the 12th of Lawyers' Reports, 
Annotated, page 664, the Indiana State Board of Agriculture, a body corporate 
with perpetual succession, having as ex officio members the president of each county 
agricultural society, and held to be in a sense an educational institution, received 
part of its funds from the state, but for the most part its funds were received from 
private citizens, railroad companies, etc. The question of whether the corporation 
was private in character was presented, the court stating that it must be determined 
by the construction of the Act of incorporation. Citing the decision of the Supreme 
Court of the United States in the aforementioned case of the Bank of the United 
States against The Planters' Bank of Georgia, and other authorities, to the effect 
that if the whole interest does not belong to the government, that is, if a corpora- 
tion is founded in part by private benefaction and part by funds derived from the 
bounty of the government itself, the corporation is private, it was held that the 
Indiana State Board of Agriculture was a private, not a public, corporation. 

In the case of Thomas against The Industrial University, found in 71st of 
Illinois Reports, page 310, the corporation was held to be a state institution and 
not subject to mechanics lien law. The Court said: 

"The officers of the incorporation are paid, either directly or indirectly, from 
funds belonging to the state. All of the interest derived from the funds invested, 
from rents from real estate, and for tuition paid by pupils or otherwise, belongs to 
the state, and hence there can be no pretence that the institution is private, or is 
to be governed by laws relating to private persons or corporations. 

"liad this body been mixed in its character, and a part had been held by private 



70 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

individuals, and another part held by the state, then the rule would, no doubt be 
different. It has been held, that, where the state enters into trade or business with 
private individuals associated together in a corporate capacity, then such organ- 
ization may be subjected to all of the legal remedies which apply to private corpora- 
tions. * * * " 

And in the case of Regents of the University of Maryland against Williams, 
found in 9th of Gill and Johnson's Reports, page 365, and in 31 of American Decis- 
ions, page 72, the highest court in Maryland said: 

"And all the authorities agree that colleges and academies established for the 
promotion of learning and piety, and endowed with property by public and private 
donations, are, in a legal sense, equally with hospitals for the relief of the poor, 
sick, etc., considered and treated as private eleemosynary corporations." 

It will be remembered that the subscriptions presented by Ira Allen in addition 
to his personal offer, were obtained by his own efforts and were in his own hand- 
writing. Is it too much to say that the sums so subscribed were contributions 
made upon his solicitation to swell the fund of his charity? If it is not, then the 
total fund should be considered his charity; but if this cannot justly be said, then 
every subscriber or contributor to that original fund should be considered a founder. 
This is in accordance with the doctrine laid down in the Matter of the Endowed 
Schools Act and in the Matter of the St. Leonard, Shoreditch, Parochial Schools, 
to which we have already made reference. 

Whichever of these two ways be correct, it seems clear to the Commission, 
upon the facts and the law, that the Corporation of the University of Vermont 
was made to rest upon a private foundation, and that Ira Allen (in case the total 
fund by him presented is to be considered as his charity) was the perficient founder; 
but if his charity was confined to his personal gift, than all of those whose sub- 
scriptions or contributions entered into the original fund were the perficient 
founders, the principal of whom was Ira Allen. 

The act of incorporation did not grant political power; nor did it create a 
civil in.stitution to be employed in the administration of the government; nor were 
its trustees, excepting the governor of this state, and the speaker of the house of 
representatives for the time being, who were ex officio members, public officers 
exercising powers conferred by the public for public objects; nor were the funds of 
the university public property; nor was the State of Vermont, as a government, 
alone interested in the transactions of the university, — so that the legislature of 
the state could act according to its own judgment, without restraint by limitation 
of power imposed by the Constitution of the United States prohibiting the impair- 
ment of the obligations of contract, without regard to reserved power in the act 
of incorporation. 

On the other hand the institution was endowed with a capacity to take real 
or personal property by gift, grant, purchase, or devise, for the use of the university 
— objects unconnected with state government; to appoint, elect, support and re- 



ITS CHARACTER 71 

move all such officers and servants as they should find necessary; to direct the 
studies of youth; to establish professorships and professors, and provide for their 
support; to make and establish rules, regulations, and by-laws for the government 
of the university, not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the state, nor tend- 
ing to religious preference; to grant and confer all such degrees, literary titles, 
honors and distinctions as other universities, colleges, and seminaries have done, 
or may of right do; to increase the number of trustees, as they should think proper, 
the whole not to exceed a number stated. Further review of the charter is unnec- 
essary. We will call attention to the law laid down by courts in cases involving 
the same question. 

In the case of Regents of the University of Maryland against Williams, to 
which reference is made above, one question was whether the "Regents of the 
University" was a public or a private corporation. Thereon the court of last 
resort in Maryland said : 

"A public corporation is one that is created for political purposes, with poHti- 
cal powers, to be exercised for purposes connected with the public good in the 
administration of civil government; an instrument of the government subject to 
the control of the legislature, and its members officers of the government, for the 
administration or discharge of public duties, as in the cases of cities, towns, etc.; 
so where a bank is created by the government for its own uses, and the stock belongs 
exclusively to the government, it is a public corporation; and so of a hospital created 
and endowed by the government for general purposes of charity. 

"The corporation of the university has none of the characteristics of a public 
corporation. It is not a municipal corporation. It was not created for political 
purposes, and is invested with no political powers. It is not an instrument of the 
government created for its own uses, nor are its members officers of the govern- 
ment, or subject to its control in the due management of its affairs, and none of 
its property or funds belong to the government. The state was not the founder, 
in the sense of that term, as apphed to corporations. It was the creator only, by 
means of the act of incorporation, and may be called the incipient, not the perficient 
founder. It gave to it in its creation the capacity to acquire and to hold property, 
but made to it no donation; and whatever property the corporation has, is its own, 
to be managed and disposed of by the regents for the uses of the institution, in 
such manner as they may judge most promotive of its interests, and not for the 
uses of the government, nor in the exercise of any political powers, but as the trus- 
tees merely for the university. It is said there have been subsequent endowments 
by the state. If it be so, that cannot affect the character of this corporation. If 
eleemosynary and private at first, no subsequent endowment of it bj' the state 
could change its character, and make it public." 

The elements essential to the determination of the character of the University 
of Vermont, as originally chartered, are not materially different from those per- 
taining to Dartmouth College, as shown in the Dartmouth College case, upon 



72 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

which that college was held by the Supreme Court of the United States to a be 
private eleemosynary institution. One of the questions involved was, whether 
"The Trustees of Dartmouth College," was a private corporation as contended by 
the plaintiff, or a public corporation as contended by the defendant. Therein 
Mr. Justice Story said: 

"Public corporations are generally esteemed such as exist for public political 
purposes only, such as towns, cities, parishes, and counties; and in many respects 
they are so, although they inv'olve some private interests; but strictly speaking, 
public corporations are such only as are founded by the government for public 
purposes, where the whole interests belong also to the government. If, therefore, 
the foundation be private, though under the charter of the government, the corpora- 
tion is private, however extensive the uses may be to which it is devoted, either 
by the bounty of the founder or the nature and objects of the institution. * * * 

"A hospital founded by a private benefactor is, in point of law, a private corpora- 
tion, although dedicated by its charter to general charity. So a college, founded 
and endowed in the same manner, although, being for the promotion of learning 
and piety, it may extend its charity to scholars from every class in the community, 
and thus acquire the character of a public institution. This is the unequivocal 
doctrine of the authorities, and cannot be shaken but by undermining the most 
solid foundations of the common law." 

In Allen against McKeen, found in 1 of Sumner's Reports, page 276, the same 
question was before the court respecting the character of Bowdoin College, whether 
it is a private or a public corporation. In determining the question there, Mr. 
Justice Story also said : 

"That a college, merely because it receives a charter from the government, 
though founded by private benefactors, is not thereby constituted a public corpora- 
tion, controllable by the government, is clear beyond any reasonable doubt. So 
the law was understood by Lord Holt, in his celebrated judgments in Phillips v. 
Bury, (1 Ld. Raym. R. 8; S. C. 2 T. R. 346.) * * *. Nor does it make any dif- 
ference, that the funds have been generally derived from the bounty of the govern- 
ment itself. The government may as well bestow its bounty upon a private cor- 
poration for charity, as upon a public corporation; and its funds once bestowed 
upon the former become irrevocable, precisely in the same manner, and to the same 
extent, as if they had been bestowed upon an individual. The government cannot 
resume a gift, once absolutely made to a private person ; neither can it resume a like 
gift to a private corporation. It is true, that the government may reserve such a 
power in granting a charter, if it chooses so to do;" It was held that Bowdoin 
College was a private and not a public corporation, as "It answers the very descrip- 
tion of a private college, as laid down by Mr. Chief Justice Marshall," in the Dart- 
mouth College case. 

Nor did the fact that the state granted to the University of Vermont, to be 
leased for its use and benefit, lands reserved to the use and benefit of a college or 



ITS CHARACTER 73 

seminary, (if the fair and proper construction of the charter, as originally granted, 
should be in law to this effect,) operate to make the character of the corporation 
public. It is said by Chancellor Kent (2 Kent's Commentaries, marginal page 
276), "A charity may be public, though administered by a private corporation. 
A devise to the poor of a parish is a public charity. The charity of almost every 
hospital and college is public, while the corporations are private. To hold a corpora- 
tion to be public, because the charity was public, would be to confound the popular 
with the strictly legal sense of terms, and to jar with the whole current of decisions 
since the time of Lord Coke." And it appears from what is said in the case of 
Downing against Indiana State Board of Agriculture, (to which reference has been 
made,) that a college founded and endowed by private benefaction, though for the 
general promotion of learning, is private; and that a college, merely because it 
received a charter from the government, if founded by private benefactors, is not 
thereby constituted a public corporation controllable by the go\'ernment; nor does 
it make any difference that the funds have generally been derived from the bounty 
of the government. 

It is further said in the brief mentioned that most of these reservations in the 
town charters were made prior to the change in the Constitution, "and the lands 
so reserved were obviously reserved to the use of the college called for by the Con- 
stitution, — which would be, as noted, a public institution;" and that there is nothing 
to indicate that the reservations in the grants made after the adoption of the Con- 
stitution of 1786 were for an institution different in character. The fallacy of this 
position is obvious. It will be remembered that, in connection with rights reserved 
in charters of towns, for the use of a seminary or college, are rights reserved for the 
use of county grammar schools, and that the two rights so reserved were, in the 
same sentence and in the same terms, to be under the control, order, direction, and 
disposal of the General Assembly of the state, forever. Regarding such lands, the 
Supreme Court (in the case of the Trustees of Caledonia County Grammar School 
against Burt, found in the 11th of Vermont Reports, page 632,) said: "Over these 
two rights, the legislature had an absolute and entire control and disposal, for the 
use and purposes for which they were reserved. Of the one for the use of grammar 
schools, it had the power to grant it to any one or more, and upon such limitations 
and conditions as the legislature chose to express, or without any condition what- 
ever, in which case it would have only the implied condition that the use must ever 
be applied to the purpose of the grant." And in Orleans County Grammar School 
against Parker, (found in 25th of Vermont Reports, page 696,) it was held that the 
General Assembly could divide such lands between two grammar schools in the 
same county. What the General Assembly could do in this respect with the county 
grammar school lands, it could do with respect to the lands reserved to the use of a 
seminary or college, for the power in the General Assembly regarding them is 
exactly the same. Of course this must not be understood as giving the legislature 
the power to violate the obligation of a grant of such lands once made to a private 



74 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

corporation, without reserved power giving the right of future legislation respecting 
them. 

Does the grant of such grammar school lands to the trustees of countj' grammar 
schools in the Act of incorporation operate to make the corporation public? This 
question was answered by the highest judicial tribunal in the state in the Caledonia 
County Grammar School case, cited above, and also in a later case presently to be 
mentioned. Referring to the former, the town of Lyndon, in the county of Cale- 
donia was chartered in 1780, the charter reserving one-seventieth part for the use 
of a college, and one-se\'cntieth part for the use of county grammar schools, "which 
two-seventieth parts for the use of a seminary or college, and for the use of county 
grammar schools, as aforesaid, and the improvements, rents, interests, and profits 
arising thereupon, shall be under the control, order, direction and disposal of the 
General Assembly of said state forever." By an Act passed in 1795, the persons 
therein named and their successors were declared to be a body corporate and politic 
in law, to be called and known as "The Trustees of Caledonia County Grammar 
School," for the purpose of sustaining a grammar school at Peacham, and were 
authorized and empowered to hold and lease for the use and benefit of said institu- 
tion, the lands lying within that county, granted for the use and benefit of a county 
grammar school, the legislature reserving no right to alter, modify, or repeal the 
charter. In 1831, the legislature incorporated a second county grammar school in 
that county, at Lyndon. In 1836, the legislature passed an Act authorizing the 
trustees of this second school to take possession of the grammar-school lands in 
Lyndon and in certain other towns in the county, and to hold the same; and if the 
same had been leased, the tenants were directed to attorn to these trustees. The 
Supreme Court, holding that the grant by the state to the Grammar School at 
Peacham vested an indefeasible title and was a contract which the state had no 
power to impair by subsequent legislation, and that the subsequent grant of a part 
of said lands to the grammar school at Lyndon was an impairment of the obligation 
of a contract, contrary to the Constitution of the United States and void, said, 
"That the trustees of a college, grammar-school or seminary of learning is such a 
corporation as cannot, without their own consent, be modified, vacated or con- 
trolled by act of the legislature, as may be done with counties, towns or other muni- 
cipal or civil corporations, is fully decided in Trustees of Dartmouth College v. 
Woodward, 4 Wlieaton, 518." This in effect was a holding that the Caledonia 
County Grammar School at Peacham was a prixate corjjoration. The same holding 
was had in the essentially similar case of Franklin County Grammar School against 
Bailey, to which reference has been made. It follows that the granting of such 
lands to county grammar schools in Acts of incorporation passed after the adoption 
of the Constitution of 1786, did not operate to make those corporations public in 
character, even though the lands so granted were reserved in town charters for the 
use of county grammar schools at a time when the Constitution of 1777 was in 
force, and by it county grammar schools were to be established as part of the public 



ITS CHARACTER 75 

school system of the state. This being so, how can it be said that the grant of the 
power to take charge of, lease, rent, and improve the lands reserved to the use of a 
seminary or college, to the University of Vermont, had the effect to make that cor- 
poration public in character? 

The charter states that "it shall not be lawful for the said corporation to hold in 
lands, lying within this state, to a greater quantity than seventy thousand acres; 
unless by consent of the legislature of this state, by a law obtained for that purpose; 
anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding." This provision 
restricting the quantity of lands in the state which the corporation might hold, 
except by special consent of the legislature, was wisely inserted to guard against too 
great accumulation of such property in the hands of this corporate body authorized 
to acquire and hold property for corporate purposes, and having an indefinite 
existence. But there was no reason for such a restriction if the corporation was 
public and consequently of state control. 

The charter further provided, that the said trustees, when required by the legis- 
lature, lay before them the state and conditions of the funds of the university, 
together with all appropriations by them made, and the by-laws, rules and regula- 
tions for the government of said institution, for their examination, approbation, 
and revision. This was not the reservation of visitatorial powers as they exist at 
common law. Regarding such powers Chancellor Kent (in 2 Kent's Commen- 
taries, marginal page 300) says: 

"To eleemosynary corporations, a visitatorial power is attached as a necessary 
incident. * * * If the corporation be public, in the strict sense, the government has 
the sole right, as trustee of the public interest, to inspect, regulate, control, and 
direct the corporation, and its funds and franchises, because the whole interest and 
franchises are given for the public use and advantage. Such corporations are to be 
governed according to the laws of the land. * * * But private and particular cor- 
porations, founded and endowed by individuals for charitable purposes, are subject 
to the private government of those who are the efficient patrons and founders. If 
there be no visitor appointed by the founder, the law appoints the founder himself, 
and his heirs, to be the visitors. * * * This power is judicial and supreme, but not 
legislative. He is to judge according to the statutes and rules of the college or 
hospital," and the decision of the visitor is final and without appeal. "In most 
cases of eleemosynary establishments, the founders do not retain this visitatorial 
power in themselves, but assign or vest it in favor of some certain specified trustees 
or governors of the institution. It may even be inferred, from the nature of the 
duties to be performed by the corporation or trustees for the persons interested in 
the bounty, that the founders or donors of the charity meant to vest the power of 
visitation in such trustees. This was the case with Dartmouth College, according 
to the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Dartmouth 
College v. Woodward. Where governors or trustees are appointed by a charter, 
according to the will of the founder, to manage a charity, (as is usually the case in 



76 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

colleges and hospitals,) the visitatorial power is deemed to belong to the trustees in 
their corporate character." 

The trustees named in the charter were incorporated and given power to make 
and establish all necessary rules, regulations, and by-laws (not repugant to the 
Constitution and laws of the state), "and to do any other thing which shall be 
found necessary for the government and welfare of such an institution." In law 
trustees so incorporated are deemed to have visitatorial power, and particularly 
so in this instance, since Ira Allen was one of the trustees and consequently a 
visitor of his own charity. It was said by Daniel Webster in arguing the Dartmouth 
College case before the Supreme Court of the United States, that in New England, 
and perhaps throughout the United States, eleemosynary corporations have been 
generally established by incorporating governours, or trustees, and vesting in them 
the right of visitation. Further saying: "Small variations may have been in 
some instances adopted; as in the case of Harvard College, where some power of 
inspection is given to the overseers, but not strictly speaking, a visitatorial power, 
which still belongs, it is apprehended to the fellows, or members of the corporation. 
In general, there are many donors. A charter is obtained, comprising them all, 
or some of them, and such others as they choose to include, with the right of appoint- 
ing their successors. They are thus the visitors of their own charity and appoint 
others, such as they may see fit, to exercise the same office in time to come. All 
such corporations are private." It was said by Mr. Justice Story in the same case, 
that "where trustees or governours are incorporated to manage the charity, the 
visitatorial power is deemed to belong to them in their corporate character." 

The power of the legislature to require of the trustees a report of the funds of the 
university, together with the appropriations made by them, and the by-laws, rules 
and regulations of the institution, for their examination, approbation, and revision, 
falls far short of visitatorial powers under the common law. The powers thus 
reserved are not greater than the legislature might well require respecting such 
corporation of its creation having the powers and the limitations of the charter, in- 
cluding that of taking charge of, leasing, renting, and improving the lands reserved 
by the authority of the state to the use of a seminary or college. The provision in 
this respect was a condition imposed by the state in granting the charter. 

Further discussion hardly seems necessary to satisfy any one of the character of 
the University of Vermont. In the judgment of the Commission, the corporation 
of the University of Vermont, as originally chartered, was not a public corporation, 
but it was a private eleemosynary institution. 

By the last section of the Act of 1791, the Governor of the State was empowered 
and requested to issue to the trustees named therein and to their successors a charter 
of incorporation, made in due form of law, in accordance with that act. It appears 
that no such charter was in fact ever issued by the Governor. However, in the 
opinion of the Commission, this is of no material consequence, (except as it may 
form a part of the conditions at the time of the passage of the Act of 1810, herein- 



ITS CHARACTER 77 

after noticed,) for, if such a charter had been issued, in legal effect it would be as 
broad and no broader than the act of the legislature directing it. So, in this in- 
stance, and in any other instance coming before the Commission, the act creating 
the corporation is deemed its charter and is referred to as such; and any legislative 
amendment thereto is considered an amendment to the charter. 

It appears from the records of the corporation that, during the session of the legis- 
lature in October, 1810, the trustees of the University of Vermont met at Mont- 
pelier and asked the legislature to appoint a committee "to advise with the corpora- 
tion in relation of the interests of the University of Vermont, and to devise the best 
mode to promote the same"; that such a committee was appointed, resulting in the 
passing of an act, November 2, 1810, in amendment of the charter. By that act 
the filling of vacancies in the board of trustees was placed upon the legislature, the 
tenure of office was fixed, and the trustees were to be commissioned by the Go\ernor 
of the state and sworn as was "by law required with regard to other state officers"; 
and it was made the duty of the Governor to issue a charter to the trustees, "con- 
firming to them and their successors, to be chosen from time to time, according to 
the provisions of this act, all the rights and immunities belonging to the said Cor- 
poration of the University of Vermont, by the provisions of this act, or of that to 
which this is an addition." It was claimed before this Commission that the pro- 
visions of this act, requiring the trustees to be thus elected and sworn, show that 
the University of Vermont was a state institution. 

It had then been about twenty years since the act of incorporation was passed, and 
no formal charter had been issued by the Governor, as therein directed. Hence 
the reason why the amendatory act directed a charter to be issued confirming to the 
trustees and their successors all rights and immunities belonging to the corporation 
by provisions of that act and by the act of incorporation. "A confirmation," says 
Lord Comyns, "gives nothing but the right to that which he to whom the confirma- 
tion is made had before." The provision requiring the trustees to be commissioned 
and sworn did not have the effect of making the corporation public. The legislature 
had the power to insert such a condition, as well as the one requiring reports con- 
cerning the funds of the university, etc., to the legislature for their consideration, 
but under the authorities cited above, the insertion of such conditions was not by 
any means a controlling element as to the character of the institution. No other 
alteration of the provisions of the charter, material to notice here, was there made. 
There was no surrender of the charter. The corporation was not founded afresh. 
Tlie only change effected respecting the funds or the property of the corporation, 
related to the lands granted by the state for the use and benefit of the university, 
making the grant "forever" instead of "until the further order of the legislature," 
as under the amendment of 1802. 

Moreover, in August, 1828, the corporation passed a resolution in part, that a 
proper application be made to the legislature for amendments to the charter so as to 
provide for an appointment by the legislature of "a board of visitors to attend the 



78 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

annual examinations and report the state of the institution to the legislature"; and 
also so as to empower the board of trustees to fill all future vacancies occurring in 
that board; and that a committee be appointed to present a petition to the legisla- 
ture for such purpose. The legislature of that year (presumably in compliance 
with an application so made), passed an act, section 1 of which provided that all 
vacancies in the board of trustees should be filled by that body, and that so much 
of the Act of 1810 as prescribed the number of trustees, the term of office, and the 
mode of election, should be thereby repealed. Section 3 of the Act of 1828 pro- 
vided for the appointment annually of "three commissioners" by the Governor and 
Council, to be present at the annual examination of the students each year, for the 
.purpose of inquiring into the regulations and by-laws, state of funds, and the gen- 
eral execution of the provisions of the charter; and to make report of their proceed- 
ings to the legislature. So much of the Act of 1810 as required a report to the 
legislature from the board of trustees was thereby repealed; and by an Act passed 
November 5, 1845, so much of section 3 of the Act of 1828 as provided for the ap- 
pointment of a board of commissioners, was repealed. Thereafter the legislature 
had no power to fill vacancies in the board of trustees, and there was no provision 
in the charter for the appointment of commissioners to be present at any of the 
functions of the institution, nor was there any, requiring the trustees to make a 
report to the legislature, on request or otherwise, — all such matters were exclusively 
with the trustees, the self-perpetuating body. 

We have already quoted from an address delivered before this commission 
by the President of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, as 
follows: "The University of Vermont has been from the beginning of its existence 
a state university. The facts of history are a full and sufficient demonstration of 
this proposition." In view of this statement it may not be considered as going 
afield if we mention some unequivocal acts showing that during the operative 
existence of the University of Vermont it was considered by the trustees as a pri- 
vate institution, and that it acted as such. All of its buildings were erected by 
private endowments or money raised through the efforts of the trustees by private 
suljscription for such purpose, including one in 1824 to take the place of one de- 
stroyed by fire, and including two in 1825. In 1821, the affairs of the university 
becoming embarrassed in consequence of judgments against it which it could not 
pay, the faculty were authorized to suspend instruction at their own discretion, 
and the operation of the institution would have been suspended indefinitely had 
it not been for the timely encouragement and assistance of its friends among pri- 
vate individuals. It is a matter of history that during the War of 1812, large 
quantities of arms belonging to the United States were deposited in the university 
building without the consent of the corporation, and that in March, 1814, the 
commanding general applied to the corporation to rent the building for the use of 
the American army, intimating that if consent were not given, forcible possession 
would be taken of it; and thereupon a committee of the corporation entered into 



ITS CHARACTER 79 

an arranf^ement with the agents of the government whereby the rent was fixed 
at a certain sum per year, the building being thus occupied until the return of 
peace in 1815, when it was evacuated by the army. The records of the University 
of Vermont show that on March 23, 1814, a resolution was adopted stating that 
a committee, appointed at a previous meeting of the corporation, had leased to 
the United States the college edifice for the term of one year, for the rent and upon 
the conditions recited in the lease, and ratifying the acts of the committee in that 
behalf; further resolving that the treasurer adjusts the claims of the corporation 
against the United States for the storage of the army therein, and receive the sum 
agreed upon as due therefor, and execute proper receipts for the same. The 
records further show that after such occupancy ceased, claim was made by the 
corporation for damages done to the college premises and property, and a committee 
was appointed by it to adjust the same with the United States government, and 
to receive compensation therefor to the use of the corporation, the matter being 
concluded in 1817. The corporate records clearly show that these transactions were 
between the United States on the one hand, and the Corporation of the University 
of Vermont on the other hand, and they do not show that the state of Vermont 
participated therein, nor that it in any way concerned itself therewith. All of the 
aforementioned events were within the period when the filling of vacancies in 
the board of trustees was with the legislature and reports were required from the 
trustees to that body. In 1840, the Corporation of the University of Vermont 
presented its petition to the legislature, praying for a loan (not a donation), tender- 
ing security by way of a mortgage on lands on which they proposed to erect buildings 
with a part of the loan asked for. On a yea and nay vote the petition was refused. 
If the corporation were public in character, here was the anomalous position of the 
state's trying to borrow money of itself and tendering to itself, as security therefor, 
a mortgage on real estate owned by itself. 

Can any one imagine a series of acts by a university more consistent with 
what might be expected from a private corporation, and more inconsistent with 
what might be expected from such an institution of learning, public in character, 
with the sovereign state financially behind it? 

In 1840, Rev. Dr. John Wheeler, then president of the University of Vermont, 
had a list in Burlington on which he was assessed a tax in March, 1841. On his 
refusal to pay the tax, his cow was taken by the collector of taxes and regularly 
sold in satisfaction thereof. A suit in trespass for taking the cow was brought 
by President Wheeler against the collector (Wheeler v. Lane, 15th of Vermont 
Reports, page 26.) Therein the plaintiff was represented by Lyman and Marsh, 
attorneys. By the charter of the University of Vermont, the persons of all officers, 
servants and students belonging to the university were exempted from taxation, 
and by the Act of 1802, amending the charter, "the persons, families, and estates 
of the jjresident and professors, lying and being within the town of Burlington, 
to the value of one thousand dollars to each of said officers," were exempted from 



80 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

taxation. The reported case shows the collector claimed that all exemptions 
in favor of college officers had been repealed, and that such repeal was within the 
power of the legislature because the University of Vermont was a public corpora- 
tion. President Wheeler, through his attorneys, claimed that the exemption was 
a franchise to a private corporation, the University of Vermont, and, therefore, 
irrevocable. His brief presented says in its second point, "2. The corporation, 
created by the act of 1791 — Sal. Comp. L. 581 — and the several additional acts, is 
a private corporation, and, therefore, all legislative grants to it, whether of funds 
or franchises, are irrevocable," citing in support of this position the Dartmouth 
College case, the case of Allen against McKeen, and the case of the Trustees of 
Caledonia County Grammar School against Burt, — three cases already noticed 
herein. 

Although the court found it unnecessary, for the decision of the case, to pass 
upon the question thus raised, the fact that the president of the university, in the 
course of this litigation, for the purpose of maintaining his right as an officer of 
that institution, unequivocally took the position that the university was a private 
corporation, is of particular significance, because this position of the president was 
in full accord with the acts of the corporation itself, mentioned above. 

Nothing further need be said to show that even if a change in character be possi- 
ble during the existence of a corporation, no such change took place as to the Cor- 
poration of the University of Vermont. 

In 1864, November 22, an act to establish the Vermont Agricultural College 
was passed. By it, Justin S. Morrill and thirteen other men named, their asso- 
ciates and successors, were constituted a body corporate under that name, "the 
leading object of which shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical 
studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are 
related to Agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and 
practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions 
of life." By it, the corporators were made the trustees, their terms of office fixed, 
the filling of vacancies to be by the legislature. The governor of the state and the 
president of the faculty were made ex officio members of the corporation. The 
trustees were given power to elect all officers of the corporation and to declare their 
duties and terms of office; to elect a president of the college, professors, instructors 
and other officers, and determine their duties, salaries, responsibilities, and terms 
of office. The corporation was authorized to make rules, orders, and by-laws, for 
the government of the college and for the regulation of their own body; to take 
and hold in fee simple or any less estate, by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise, 
any land, tenements, or other estate, real or personal. The board of trustees was 
given the power to determine the location of the college, and in their discretion 
to obtain by gift, grant, purchase, or other means, a tract of land not to exceed one 
hundred acres, to be used as an experimental farm, so as best to promote the objects 
of the institution; and one-tenth of all the moneys received by the state treasurer 



ITS CHARACTER 81 

from the sale of land scrip by virtue of the provisions of the Act of Congress (Morrill 
Act of 1862), mentioned therein, and of the laws of the state, could be appropriated 
toward the purchase of such site or farm; provided, the trustees should determine 
to purchase such farm; and provided further, that the college should first secure 
by valid subscription, or otherwise, the further sum of not less than one hundred 
thousand dollars, for the purpose of erecting suitable buildings thereon, providing 
libraries and apparatus, and defraying the necessary expenses of the college; and 
the corporation should cease to exist at a specified time (November 15, 1865), 
unless it had then obtained valid and solvent subscriptions to the amount of that 
sum, to be applied to the endowment or other uses of the college. When duly 
organized, located, and established, as and for the purposes specified in the act, 
the college was to receive each year the annual interest or income from the Federal 
fund. 

"The clear rents and profits of all the estate" of which the corporation should be 
seized and possessed, were to be appropriated to the use of the college, and in event 
of dissolution of the corporation, the estate belonging to it was to revert and belong 
to the state, to be held and disposed of by it in the advancement of education in 
agriculture and the mechanic arts. The legislature in terms reserved the power 
to grant further powers to the corporation, or to alter, limit, annul, or restrain any 
of those vested by the act of incorporation, as should be found necessary to promote 
the best interests of the college, "and may appoint overseers or visitors of said 
college, with all necessary powers for the better aid, preservation and government 
thereof; and the said corporation shall make an annual report of its condition, 
financial and otherwise to the Legislature at the opening of its session." 

From the foregoing review of the salient features of the charter it is apparent 
that this corporation was created solely and expressly to enable the state to have 
the benefit of the appropriation under the Morrill Act of 1862. By accepting the 
provisions of that act the state became the owner of the fund arising from the sale 
of its allotment of land scrip, and the interest thereon, in trust, however, for the 
purposes named in the act. The state could authorize the expenditure of only one- 
tenth of the fund itself, and that only for the purchase of a site or farm. Beyond 
this, only the interest received could be used. Except as to the said one-tenth, the 
capital of the fund is to remain forever undiminished, and if any portion thereof, 
or of the interest thereon, be diminished or lost, it must be replaced by the state. 

By the act of incorporation the Vermont Agricultural College was created as an ^ 
instrumentality of the state for the better and more efficient administration of the 
trust. 

In the sense that "the first gift of the revenues is the foundation, and he who 
gives them is in law the founder," the state was the founder. The fact that by the 
charter the expenditure of said one-tenth of the principal fund towards the purchase 
of a site or farm, was with the proviso that the trustees should determine to procure 
such farm, and with the further proviso that the college should first secure, by sub- 



82 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

scription or otherwise, the further sum of not less than one hundred thousand 
dollars for the purpose of erecting buildings thereon, etc., did not operate to make 
tlie foundation different. The act fairly contemplated that the trustees might not 
determine to procure such farm, in which event no authority was given for the 
expenditure of any part of the principal fund, and the second proviso would not 
become active. Nor did the provision in the charter that "This act shall be in 
operation until said corporation shall have procured valid and solvent subscriptions, 
to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, to be applied to the endowment 
or other uses of said college; and said corporation shall cease to exist on the 15th 
day of November, 1865, unless the foregoing subscription shall have been obtained," 
make the foundation different. Thereby the act was in force and the corporation 
in existence for nearly a year, but it should cease at the specified time unless the 
thing should have been done, — a condition subsequent, not affecting the original 
foundation, but a contribution for the purpose of it. 

All of the property seized and possessed by the corporation was to be held in 
trust for, and to be appropriated to, the use of the institution in such manner as 
should most effectually promote the declared objects thereof, and in event of the 
dissolution of the corporation, it was to revert and belong to the state, for the same 
purpose in effect that the funds from the general government are owned by the 
state. Yet this revertive provision, except as to real estate, does not materially 
differ from the general doctrine pertaining to public or charitable corporations. 
"As to these," says the Supreme Court of the United States in Late Corporations of 
Latter-Day Saints against United States, 186th of the United States Reports, 1,. 
"the ancient and established rule prevails, namely: that when a corporation is dis- 
solved, its personal property, like that of a man dying without heirs, ceases to be the 
subject of private ownership, and becomes subject to the disposal of the sovereign 
authority; whilst its real estate reverts or escheats to the grantor or donor, unless 
some other course of devolution has been directed by positive law, though still 
subject, * * * to the charitable use." 

Under the terms of the charter, the visitatorial powers in the state are broad 
enough to give her, as at common law in the case of public eleemosynary corpora- 
tions, the sole right to inspect, regidate, control, and direct the corporation, and 
its funds and franchises. 

The charter also contains elements more particularly indicating that the corpora- 
tion is private in character, and authorities are found supporting this view, yet on 
the whole the Commission is inclined to the opinion that this corporation is public, 
and it is so treated in the consideration of the University of Vermont and State 
Agricultural College, which follows. 

In November, 1865, the University of Vermont and the Vermont Agricultural 
College consolidated in the formation of a new corporation by the name of the 
"University of Vermont and State Agricultural College," under an Act of the 
General Assembly, approved November 9, 1865, "for the purpo.se of carrying out 



ITS CHARACTER 83 

the objects contemplated in their respective charters," and as such to be and remain 
a body corporate forever, with power to hold and convey real and personal estate, 
to have a common seal, and all the rights and powers incident to corporations. 
The trustees of each of the constituent corporations, before a given day, were to 
elect nine of their number, who, with their successors, should thereafter constitute 
a part of the board of trustees, and likewise constitute a part of the board of trustees 
of the new corporation, and all the trustees so elected, together with the governor 
of the state and the president, ex officio members, were made to constitute the entire 
board of trustees of that corporation, who should have the entire management and 
control of its property and affairs, and in all things relating thereto, except in the 
elections to fill vacancies, act together jointly, as one entire board of trustees. It 
was made the duty of the said nine trustees of the University of Vermont to elect 
successors to fill any vacancy occurring among their number. The nine trustees 
of the said Agricultural College were to be divided into three classes, of three mem- 
bers each, the terms of office by classes being two, four, and six years, respectively, 
all vacancies therein, by expiration of the term or otherwise, to be filled by the 
legislature, the term of office to continue six years. The board of trustees of the 
consolidated corporation was vested with power to confer honors and degrees; to 
elect all officers, including president, secretary, treasurer, professors and instructors, 
and prescribe their duties, salaries, and terms of office; to make by-laws and regula- 
tions for the government of themselves and others connected with the institution, 
not inconsistent with the provisions of the consolidating act. By that Act the 
property of each of the constituent corporations became the property of the new 
corporation, and thus combined, constituted its entire property, to use, control, sell, 
or dispose of, subject to the payment of existing debts of the constituent corpora- 
tions, and subject to any trust, duties, and obligations connected therewith; and the 
new corporation was given the same rights in respect to the college lands in 
this state, and to the rents, uses and benefits thereof, as the University of Vermont 
previously had. 

The trustees of the new corporation were empowered to obtain by gift, grant, or 
otherwise, a tract of land, which, together with the land then owned by the Univer- 
sity of Vermont, should amount to at least one hundred acres, to be used as an ex- 
perimental farm; and in case said land should be procured, as aforesaid, a sum not 
exceeding one-tenth of the money received for the sale of the land scrip by the state 
treasurer, in pursuance of the Act of Congress authorizing the same, was to be paid 
to said board of trustees for the purposes aforesaid; with a proviso not here material. 
And whenever the new corporation should have been duly organized, there was to 
be appropriated and paid to its treasurer annually, for the purposes mentioned in 
that act, the interest or the income received from the fund created under and by 
virtue of said Act of Congress. 

The consolidation statute was to take effect whenever the two constituent cor- ^ 
porations should vote to accept the same, and to surrender and relinquish to the 



84 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

coqioration thereby created "all the property belonging to them, whether real or 
personal, and all the rents, profits and income therefrom arising, including said 
proceeds from the sale of said land scrip, for the purpose, and subject to all the 
rights, trusts and conditions as in this act provided." By it a copy of the record of 
the vote of acceptance by each of the constituent corporations was to be recorded 
in the office of the Secretary of State; "whereupon, by virtue of such votes, such 
property, rents, profits and income, shall become the property of the corporation 
hereby created, for the purposes, and subject to the rights, trusts and conditions 
aforesaid, and said property, and the property hereafter acquired by the corpor- 
ation hereby created, shall be subject to all the conditions, immunities and exemp- 
tions now pertaining to the property now held by said University of Vermont"; 
and by it all provisions inconsistent therewith, contained in the act establishing 
the Vermont Agricultural College, were repealed. 

All votes were taken and records made that were essential to the taking effect 
of the Act of consolidation, and to the vesting of the property, rents, profits, and 
income of the constituent corporations, in the new corporation, for the purposes, 
and subject to the rights, trusts, and conditions before named. 

The new corporation was to make annual reports to the legislature of their con- 
dition, financial and otherwise, and make and distribute the reports required by 
the Act of Congress therein referred to; and the legislature reserved the right to 
appoint annually "a board of visitors, who may annually examine the affairs of said 
corporation." 

The Act of consolidation further j)rovides, in effect, that in case the new corpora- 
tion shall be dissolved, the Supreme Court may order and decree that the income 
thereafter to be derived from the proceeds of the sale of said land scrip, together 
with such amount as may have been paid over by the state treasurer for the purpose 
of an experimental farm, shall revert to the Vermont Agricultural College, and the 
property and effects which belonged to the University of Vermont at the time of 
the union, shall revert to, and be the property of, that institution; and any property 
or funds thereafter acquired by the new corporation, shall be awarded and dis- 
tributed to the constituent corporations in such manner as the court shall deem 
just and equitable, having reference to the manner the same was acquired, and to 
any specific trusts, or expressed intention of any donors, then made; and for such 
and all other purposes the constituent corporations shall be deemed and treated as 
having continued in life. 

As before seen, the corporation of the Vermont Agricultural College by its charter 
would cease to exist on November 15, 1865, unless it had then procured valid and 
solvent subscriptions to the amount of $100,000, to be applied to the endowment 
or other uses of the college. On November 9, 1865, six days before the expiration 
of the time thus allowed, the consolidation Act was passed. Notwithstanding that 
corporation had made great effort to comply with the provision of its charter in 

is respect, they secured by pledge only $17,000. It hardly seems necessary to 



ITS CHARACTER 85 

mention in this connection the fact that no part of the principal of the Federal fund, 
nor of the income thereof, ever went into the hands of that institution — it remained 
with the treasurer of the State of Vermont. A report of the trustees of the Ver- 
mont Agricultural College under date of October 19, 1865, to the governor of the 
state, recommending consolidation with the University of Vermont, contains a 
statement showing the property of the University of Vermont at that time, "as 
represented by its Treasurer, and by others whose judgment may be relied upon," 
to be in the aggregate $167,500, with an indebtedness of $16,183, leaving $151,317, 
of which about $13,000 was held in trust for purposes of specific instruction. 

Considering the $17,000 pledged by subscription to the Vermont Agricultural 
College as available under the consolidation, the property owned by the constituent 
corporations, and which under the Act of consolidation became the property of the 
new corporation, was as follows : the University of Vermont (deducting for indebted- 
ness), $151,317; the Vermont Agricultural College, $17,000, with the provision 
that it should receive the benefit of the Federal fund in case of compliance with the 
conditions of its charter in that respect. Whether there was a likelihood of such a 
compliance, it is unnecessary to consider; for treating that corporation as public 
in character (which we have before indicated would be done), it was but the State 
of Vermont acting through its instrumentality — its agent expressly created, as 
before seen — to enable the state to have the benefit of the Federal appropriation. 
Such being the character and the purpose of that corporation, the consolidation 
was of two corporations, namely, the University of Vermont, a private institution, 
and the Vermont Agricultural College, a public institution and the instrumentality 
of the state. This position is emphasized by the fact that by the Act of consolida- 
tion, instead of the new corporation being left to take the benefit of the Federal 
funds through the constituent corporation, the Vermont Agricultural College, pro- 
visions were inserted whereby the new corporation should receive the benefit of 
those funds by virtue of its own charter, from the state direct, and provisions con- 
tained in the charter of the Vermont Agricultural College inconsistent with the 
Act of consolidation, were by the latter expressly repealed. 

Such being in law the character of the two constituent corporations and the 
status of their respective properties, the consolidation Act was to enable the 
University of Vermont and the State of Vermont to carry out the arrangement made 
between them by organizing a new corporation, the foundation of which should 
consist of the combined properties of the University of Vermont and of the State 
of Vermont, as represented by its instrumentality, the Vermont Agricultural 
College. 

This brings the matter well within the principle laid down by the Supreme Court 
of the United States in the case of The Bank of the United States against The 
Planters' Bank of Georgia, (in 9th of Wheaton, page 907,) before noticed. That the 
doctrine there enunciated may be clearly in mind, we venture to quote again the 
following from the opinion of Chief Justice Marshall : 



86 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

"It is, we think, a sound principle, that when a government becomes a partner 
in any trading company, it devests itself, so far as concerns the transactions of that 
company, of its sovereign character, and takes that of a private citizen. Instead of 
communicating to the company its privileges and its prerogatives, it descends to a 
level with those with whom it associates itself, and takes the character which belongs 
to its associates, and to the business which is to be transacted." Also from the 
case of Regents of the University of Maryland against "WiUiams, (in 9 of Gill and 
Johnson, page 365, and in 31 of American Decisions, page 72,) : "And all the authori- 
ties agree that colleges and academies established for the promotion of learning 
and piety, and endowed with property by public and private donations, are, in a 
legal sense, equally with hospitals for the relief of the poor, sick, etc., considered 
and treated as private eleemosynary corporations." 

It will be recalled that the same principle was applied in the case of Downing 
against the Indiana State Board of Agriculture, held by the highest court of Indiana 
to be in a sense an educational institution; and that it was recognized as sound in 
the case of Thomas against the Industrial University, an educational institution, 
though not there applicable, — to both of which cases attention was called in our 
discussion of the University of Vermont. 

Applying this law, there can be no doubt of the character of the foundation of 
the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College. Notwithstanding it 
was mixed, in that it came in part from a private source, the University of Vermont, 
and in part from a public source, the state, therein the state takes the character 
which belongs to its private associate, the University of Vermont. The University 
of Vermont and State Agricultural College, then, as respects its foundation, is a 
private corporation. 

This .seems to be as contemplated by the consolidation Act, for therein it is 
provided, regarding the property, rents, profits, and income derived by the new 
corporation from the constituent corporations, and the property thereafter acquired 
l)y it, that it "shall be subject to all the conditions, immunities and exemptions now 
pertaining to the property now held by said University of Vermont" — thus putting 
all the property of the new institution, whether derived from the public, or from 
the private, constituent corporation, or from future acquisitions, in the same 
position as to conditions, immunities, and exemptions, as the property held by the 
private constituent corporation, rather than as the property held by the public 
constituent corporation. 

In addition to this, the disposition of the property to be made in ca.se of a dis- 
.solution of the new corporation, is indicative in the .same direction — it shows that 
of the property at the time of the consolidation, only the trust funds received by 
the state from the general government revert to the Vermont Agricultural College, 
in effect, to the state. 

The provision in the charter, that "the Legislature may annually ap])oint a board 
of visitors, who may annually examine the affairs of said corporation," amounts to 



ITS CHARACTER 87 

no more than giving the right of inspection, which in law is very different from, and 
falls far short of, visitatorial powers at common law. This is shown clearly by the 
case of Guthrie against Harkness, found in 199th of United States Reports, page 
148. There, Harkness, the defendant in error, was the owner of a part of the 
capital stock of a certain national bank. As such shareholder he applied for leave 
to inspect the books, accounts, and loans of the bank, which was refused him. He 
sought such inspection for the purpose of ascertaining the true financial condition 
of the bank, and also for the purpose of ascertaining the value of his stock in said 
bank, and also for the purpose of ascertaining whether the business affairs of the 
bank had been conducted according to law. It was argued on the part of the 
directors of the bank that such right of inspection was cut off by a certain section 
of the United States statute, providing that "no association shall be subject to 
any visitorial powers other than such as are authorized by this title, or are vested 
in the courts of justice." The Supreme Court of the United States said there 
could be no question that the decisive weight of American authority recognizes 
the common-law right of the shareholder, for proper purposes and under reasonable 
regulations as to place and time, to inspect the books of the corporation of which 
he is a member, quoting from a work on private corporations, which says, "How- 
ever, in the United States the prevailing doctrine appears to be that the individual 
shareholders in a corporation have the same right as the members of an ordinary 
partnership to examine their company's books, although they have no power to 
interfere with the company's management." After defining and discussing visita- 
tion in law, the court said: 

"In no case or authority that we have been able to find has there been a defini- 
tion of this right which would include the private right of the shareholder to have 
an examination of the business in which he is interested, and the right of discovery 
of the methods and means by which the agents of the corporation are conducting 
its affairs." 

It was held that the shareholder was wrongfully denied an inspection of the 
books and accounts of the bank. 

It cannot well be said that in law this board of visitors has other powers 
than that stated in the provision quoted from the Act of consolidation; for the 
legal maxim here applicable is, that "the express mention of one thing implies the 
exclusion of another." 

By the Act of consolidation, visitatorial powers are vested in the trustees: 
they are given "the entire management and control of its property and affairs." 

Is that Act a grant of political power? Other than the governor, who is made 
ex officio trustee, the trustees of the new corporation are not political officers vested 
with any portion of political power, to be exercised for purposes connected with 
the public good in the administration of civil government, nor do they perform 
duties which flow from, or in any way pertain to, the sovereign authority. Neither 
their services, nor the services of the professors, are paid for by the state. The 



88 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

property of the corporation is not public property. So far as it was given by the 
state, it cannot be resumed, except as such right may be reserved in the charter. 
The state alone is not interested in the transactions of the institution. And the 
corporation is given a capacity to take, hold, and convey real and personal estate 
for objects not connected with the government. Professor John F. Dillon (in 
his work on Municipal Corporations, section 54,) says, "Corporations are public 
only when, in the language of Chief Justice Marshall, 'the ivhole interests and fran- 
chises are the exclusive property and domain of the government itself.' " 

It is said, however, that nine of the trustees are elected by the joint assembly; 
and that since the governor and the president are ex officio trustees, (the latter 
being elected by the board,) the control of the institution is always with the state. 
Granting that, considering numbers alone, such a conclusion may be reached, 
no argument is needed to convince any unprejudiced mind that in practical opera- 
tion the control of the institution is not with the state. In the opinion of the Com- 
mission, the fact that under the Act of consolidation this institution is given the 
power to take charge of, lease, rent, and appropriate to its u.se and benefit, the 
college lands, granted under the authority of the state for specified purposes, and 
the fact that the institution is given, by the state, the benefit of funds owned and 
held by the state, under appropriations from the general government, in trust for 
the purposes named in the Act of appropriation, for the safeguarding of which 
the state is responsible, constitute a good and sufficient reason for the method 
adopted in making up the board of trustees in the first instance, and in filling 
subsequent vacancies therein, and for requiring annual reports from the corpora- 
tion of their condition to the legislature, and for the distribution of reports as re- 
quired by the Act of Congress, and for the reservation of jjower to appoint "a 
board of visitors," having the limited power before discussed. 

We call attention to a decision much in point, by the highest court of the State 
of Illinois, (in Board of Education against Greenebaum and Sons, found in 39 of 
Illinois Reports, page 609,) involving the character of an institution of learning 
in that state. There the legislature passed an Act, the preamble of which recites 
a compact between the state and the United States, by which a certain percentage 
of the proceeds of the sale of public lands lying in the state, were set apart to the 
state to be appropriated by the legislature for the encouragement of learning, of 
which one-sixth was to be bestowed exclusively upon the college or university. 
It then speaks more particularly regarding the amount of that fund and the interest 
on it up to a certain date; and for the purpose of carrying out the intention of 
Congress and the understanding of the people, the legislature passed the Act estab- 
lishing the "Normal University," the governor of the state being required to issue 
stock to the amount named, (a part of the interest of this fund,) payable to the 
board of education for the use of the Normal University. From this legislation 
the board of education insisted that the property of the Normal University was 
the property of the state, in which the corporation had no interest; that it was 



ITS CHARACTER 89 

created for certain public purposes in which the whole state had an interest, and 
certain rights accrued to each county in the state; that the governor, by and with 
the advice and consent of the senate, appointed the trustees who composed the 
corporation ; that the superintendent of public instruction was ex officio a member of 
the board and secretary thereof, whose duty it was to report to the legislature the 
condition and expenditures of the university; that the corporation was a mere 
trustee or agent of the state to carry out the wishes and intention of the legislature 
and its property could only be used for corporate purposes. The Normal Univer- 
sity was held to be a private corporation; and regarding the method of appoint- 
ing trustees and the requirement for reports to the legislature, the court said: 

"The reason that the legislature reserved the appointment of the trustees was, 
doubtless, because it had placed in their keeping a fund of which the state was but 
a trustee, and merely responsible for its proper application, and over it a special 
custodian was placed, in the person of the superintendent of public instruction, 
whose duty it was to make reports to the legislature of the condition and expendi- 
tures of the university, and as some equivalent for this deposit of trust money, 
the state claimed and receives the gratuitous instruction of two pupils from each 
county, and for as many more as the whole number of representatives in the legis- 
lature might amount to, in the several representative districts. These pupils, 
it is understood, defray all their expenses, except for tuition, and are in no sense 
charity scholars, fed and provided at the expense of the state." 

By No. 105, Acts of 1892, it was enacted: "No trustee, director or supervisor 
of any state institution, except the University of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College, shall be employed in any capacity in such institution; and in case any 
such officer shall accept employment in a state institution of which he is a trustee, 
director or supervisor, his office shall be vacant." And it is claimed by those 
representing the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College before this 
Commission, that thereby the legislature in effect declared that corporation to 
be a state institution. But such a legislative declaration (if it can properly be so 
characterized) can have no force in determining the character of the institution. 
On February 28, 1867, the General Assembly of the State of Illinois passed an Act 
declaring "The State Normal University," an institution in that state, then ten 
years in existence, to be a state institution, and the property in the hands and 
standing in the name of the Board of Education of the State of Illinois, to be the 
property of, and by said board held in trust for, the state. 

In the case of The Board of Education of the State of Illinois against Bakewell, 
found in Vol. 122 of Illinois Reports, page 339, the court of last resort in that state 
said: "What appellant indeed was, in the respect of being a state institution or 
a private corporation, depended upon what the charter of its creation made it 
to be, and not what the lef:islature may have, at some time afterward, considered 
it to be. * * * The declaration of the Act of 1867, that the State Normal University 
was a state institution, and that the property of appellant was the property of the 



90 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

State of Illinois, stood a mere harmless declaration upon the statute book, having 
no effect." i 

In 1886 the case of Willard against Pike (found in 59 of Vermont Reports, page 
^02,) came before the Supreme Court of this state. The judges who sat in the 
case were Homer E. Royce, Ciiief Judge, H. Henry Powers, Wheelock G. Veazey, 
Russell S. Taft, John W. Rowell. and William H. Walker, Assistant Judges. The 
opinion in the case was written by Judge Veazey. There the question was as to 
the validity of a tax assessed in St. Johnsbury, against the plaintiff. It appeared 
that the St. Johnsbury Academy owned a large boarding house, the rent or income 
of which was used for general expenses of the academy; that it owned a "club 
house," partly rented and partly occupied by a club of scholars; that it owned also 
a house on Main Street known as "Warner House," which had brought the academy 
no rent, but was kept as a part of the academy property. The county court ruled 
that the Warner House, the club house, and the boarding house were properly 
omitted from the list, and that they were exempt, as matter of law, from taxation. 
The plaintiff contended that this was error, because the St. Johnsbury Academy 
was a private, and not a public, corporation. The statute provided that "Real or 
personal estate granted, sequestered, or used for public, pious or charitable uses; 
* * * and lands owned or leased by colleges, academies, or other public schools," 
should be exempt from taxation. Counsel for the plaintiff' made the point in their 
brief presented to the Supreme Court, that the academy, boarding house, club 
house, etc., were not exempt from taxation, because the corporation was purely 
a private one, and in no sense public. The question being thus presented in 
argument, the court said : 

"We do not think the words 'or other public schools' were intended to be restric- 
tive of what precedes. Colleges and academies are, in popular understanding, 
public institutions, although not public in the sense as applied to our common 
schools, which are supported by public taxation and are free to the public without 
charge to the pupils. 

"The word 'public' in this statute, we hold, is not to be construed in the latter 
.sense, but in the sense in which academies are regarded as public institutions. It 
is not restrictive of what precedes, but is explained thereby; that is, public in the 
sense in which colleges and academies are public. 

"No colleges or academies in this state are yet free to the public like our public 
schools; neither are they public corporations; therefore if the legislature intended 
by the.phrase, 'lands owned or leased by colleges, academies, or other public schools,' 
only such colleges and academies as were free to the public without charge for 
tuition, or as were purely and technically public corporations like municipalities, 
the legislation was simply idle * * *. When a college or academy is incorporated 
wholly for the puri)oscs of general education, and is so operated without any capital 
stock or purpose of i)rof]t, and tuition is charged only for its maintenance, then 
it is devoted to public use." 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 91 

It is clear that the court in that case draws a distinction between the property 
of a private corporation being devoted to a public use, and the corporation itself 
being public. No one will seriously question but that the property of the Univer- 
sity of Vermont and State Agricultural College is to the extent mentioned in this 
opinion, devoted to a public use, but none the less the corporation remains private. 
This distinction is the same as appears between the holding in the Dartmouth 
College case, as first decided by the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, and as 
subsequently decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, the former 
holding that the use of the property being public, the corporation was public; the 
latter holding that the use, although public, was not determinative of the character 
of the corporation; and if a corporation is pubUc, it is so in the strict legal sense, and 
not merely in the popular sense. 

The case of Scott against St. Johnsbury Academy and Trustees, (decided in 1912, 
and found in the 86th of Vermont Reports, page 172,) was an action brought to 
collect taxes assessed on certain real estate belonging to the St. Johnsbury Academy. 
Some of the property taxed was the same as that involved in the case of Willard 
against Pike, above noticed. Regarding it, the court said: "We cannot hold this 
property to be taxable, without rejecting the conclusions of that case, — which we 
are unwilling to do." 

Without pursuing the discussion of the question further, the Commission is 
clearly of the opinion that the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College 
is a private, not a public, corporation, and it so determines. 



2. Use of Federal Appropriations 

Some question has arisen whether disbursement of the annual appropriations 
from the general government received by the University of Vermont and State 
Agricultural College, has been in accordance with the rights, duties, and obliga- 
tions of that institution, and it is one of the matters presented to this Commission. 
The answer thereto depends upon whether the expenditures have been only for the 
purposes contemplated in the trusts, and have conformed to the provisions of the 
trusts in their true spirit, intent, and meaning. This question is one of great im- 
portance to the people of the State of Vermont, and it requires consideration of the 
Federal Acts of appropriation and of the charter under which the institution was 
organized and is acting, in the light of such aids as can reasonably be said to have a 
bearing thereon. 

Under the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, known as the "Morrill Act of 
1862," this state received as proceeds of the sale of land scrip, $135,500 to be applied 
to the uses and purposes prescribed in that Act, "and for no other use or purpose 
whatsoever." All expense incurred in the management and disbursement of the 
moneys so received is to be paid by the state out of its treasury, so that the whole 



92 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

sum, without diminution, shall be applied to the purposes named therein. These 
moneys were to be invested in stocks yielding not less than five per centum upon 
the par value of the stocks, and the moneys so invested constitute a perpetual fund, 
the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished, except, if authorized by 
the state, one-tenth thereof could be expended for the purchase of land for a site 
or experimental farm. No portion of this fund nor the interest thereon, could be 
applied to the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or buildings. 
The interest "shall be inviolably appropriated, by each state which may take and 
claim the benefit of this Act, to the endowment, support, and maintenance of, at 
least, one college, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scien- 
tific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of 
learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the 
legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal 
and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and pro- 
fessions in life." 

In plain language, so far as this Federal Act is concerned, the "leading object' 
of the college shall be to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture 
and the mechanic arts; and the fact that these branches are to be taught "in such 
manner as the legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe, in order to 
promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several 
pursuits and professions in life," seems to make it quite clear that discretionary 
power was vested in each state, ever keeping within the confines of the Act, to lay 
down a rule of action, guiding and directing the expenditure of the moneys by the 
college receiving it, in a manner intended to promote the liberal and practical educa- 
tion of the industrial classes of the particular state. 

The charter of the Vermont Agricultural College states the "leading object" of 
the institution in terms like those of the Federal Act of appropriation. The charter 
of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College provides that there 
shall at all times be maintained in the institution thereby created, "such instruction, 
in the various branches of learning, as is contemplated in the several charters of 
each of the institutions hereby united; and more particularly including a four years' 
course of studies, similar to such as are generally taught in other colleges, and not 
inferior to that recently taught in said University of Vermont, and in addition to 
that which is usually taught in other colleges, the instruction in this institution 
shall include such enlarged facilities, and extended scope and variety in the study 
of those branches which relate to military tactics, agriculture and the mechanic 
arts, as shall render the whole instruction in conformity with said act of Congress, 
as well as with the several charters aforesaid." Thus the purpose of the University 
of Vermont, as declared in its charter, and the purpose of the Vermont Agricultural 
College, as declared in its charter, are the coordinating purposes of the University 
of Vermont and State Agricultural College, as declared in its charter. It is only the 
coordinate relating to agriculture and the mechanic arts that falls particularly 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 93 

within the contemplated field of this Commission. In this connection we may 
notice with profit an address delivered by W. O. Thompson, president of Ohio State 
University, before the Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Association of 
American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, on "The Mission of the 
Land-Grant Colleges." This address was sufficiently accurate and of such impor- 
tance that the United States Department of Agriculture reprinted it and gave it 
circulation as Bulletin 142. Therein discussing the "Morrill Act of 1862" and 
undertaking to interpret it in the light of the debate in Congress which led to its 
enactment. President Thompson said: 

"Second. This statute was intended to introduce new lines of education. It 
was intended to provide what was not already provided. It was to meet the need 
that had existed but hitherto had been unrecognized. This statute recognizes the 
industrial classes in the field of agriculture and mechanic arts as substantially 
unprovided for beyond the opportunities in the public schools. It is worthy of 
note, however, that at the date of this statute the public school system was a long 
way from its present efficiency. It was generally conceded that the wealthy classes 
and the favored classes were able to take care of themselves. The older institutions 
were somewhat aristocratic in their original conception. They appealed largely 
to the favored classes and by easy processes neglected the large masses of the people. 
This statute was a distinct effort to extend a form of higher education to a class of 
people hitherto unreached. 



"Fourth. There can be no doubt that this statute means exactly what it says, 
that the leading object of these colleges shall be agriculture and the mechanic arts. 
Precedence is always to be given to these subjects. My understanding of this is 
that they were to be chiefly schools of applied science. The existing conditions of 
the country demand, of course, that foundations shall be laid with this end in view. 
The sciences related to agriculture and the sciences related to mechanic arts are 
to be the chief subjects of instruction and investigation. Underlying the whole 
conception of this statute and running through the entire argument that was made 
for it was the doctrine that the pursuits of agriculture and mechanic arts demanded 
specific training in order to bring about the highest development of efficiency in the 
industrial classes and the promotion of these great interests in the country. The 
statute does not lose sight of the importance of other forms of industry or of labor, 
but it keeps in full view the importance of these fundamental industries. It 
emphasizes in these colleges, as it is emphasized nowhere else, the importance of 
this type of education. 

"Fifth. In my judgment a subordinate place is given in this statute to military 
tactics. This does not mean that the subject is to be treated unfairly or with little 
respect; but that the organization of these institutions is primarily in the interest 
of industry and not of war. They are a preparation for a peaceful life rather than 



94 UNR^RSITY OF VERMONT 

for strife. I understand it, therefore, to be the duty or the mission, if we prefer 
that expression, of these colleges to keep faith with the Government in both par- 
ticulars. We are primarily educational institutions of the industrial sort rather 
than of a military type. We recognize to the fullest extent the importance of 
military tactics, but the precedence of these institutions is not given to military 
tactics. My own interpretation of the statute is that general science, classical 
studies, and military tactics are on substantially the same level. They occupy a 
position of honor. No discredit may be attached to any of them. They are right- 
fully in these schools, but they may not take precedence over the others." 

It is equally instructive to notice an address delivered by W. J. Kerr, president 
of the Agricultural College of Utah, before the American Agricultural Colleges and 
Experiment Stations, the proceedings of which were printed by the United States 
Department of Agriculture and issued as Bulletin No. 164. Therein President 
Kerr said : 

"At the time of the passage of the Morrill land-grant act in 1862 the accepted 
type of higher education was the four years' course of the old classical college. The 
conventional courses in classics, literature, and philosophy were the leading features 
of college work. The State universities were expected to be, as it was declared in 
the organic act that they should be, literary institutions. They were confined for 
the most part to the traditional courses of the time, and differed little, if at all, 
from the old classical institutions. 

"During the years immediately preceding the passage of this act, extending over 
a period of about two decades, great progress was made in the development of the 
country, and there was an increasing consequent demand for trained men for 
responsible positions in the different industries. As stated by President Dabney, 
'great railroads were to be built, but with the exception of the Military Academy 
at West Point, there was no school to train the engineers to survey them. Mines 
of coal and iron were to be opened, but miners had to be imported to open them. 
Factories needed to be built, but engineers had to be brought over from England 
or Holland to build them. Ironworks and many other important industries were 
calling loudly for chemists, who had to be obtained from Germany or France.' 
Moreover, the impairment of the natural productiveness of the soil, the deprecia- 
tion of farm crops, and the resultant general deterioration of farm properties were 
earnestly calling for the remedial applications of scientific methods in agriculture. 
It became evident, therefore, that the old college was not meeting the new demands. 
A new type of education was required, an education bearing more directly upon the 
arts of life. 

"It was to meet these particular needs of the people in the development of a new 
and rapidly growing country that the Morrill Act of 1862 was passed. Under this 
act nearly 11,000,000 acres of lands were granted to the different States for the en- 
dowment of colleges, the leading objects of which should be 'to promote the liberal 
and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and pro- 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 95 

fessions of life.' As explained by Senator Morrill, 'the fundamental idea was to 
offer an opportunity in every State for a liberal and larger education to larger 
numbers, not merely to those destined to sedentary professions, but to those much 
needing higher instruction for the world's business, for the industrial pursuits and 
professions of life.' It is clearly evident from the provisions of the Morrill Act, 
and from all the speeches delivered in Congress relating thereto, that the object 
was to provide for a new type of institutions, occupying a distinctive field as scien- 
tific, technical colleges, adapted to the needs of the great laboring classes in the 
development of the industries and resources of the country. But it is also to be 
observed that a liberal as well as a technical education was contemplated — an 
education for skill and efficiency, but for culture as well. The purpose, therefore, 
in the establishment of the land-grant colleges was to provide an education, to 
quote again from Senator Morrill, which 'should prove useful in building up a great 
nation — great in its resources of wealth and power, but greatest of all in the aggre- 
gate of its intelligence and virtue.' " 

It seems to the Commission that the addresses of President Thompson and 
President Kerr, from which the above quotations are made, show much good sense 
and voice the right spirit respecting the Morrill Act of 18C'2, and the manner 
(wholesome indeed) in which the trust should be administered by institutions 
receiving the benefit of the funds arising under it. 

It appears that the interest received annually by the University of Vermont and 
State Agricultural College under the Federal Grant of 1862, is $8,130. It further 
appears that of this money, $3,260 is used in the support of the university treasurer's 
oflBce, and that the remaining $4,870 is used under the policy of the trustees for the 
benefit of the general educational development of the University. 

Under its charter the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College has 
coordinate leading objects, one being (quoting from the charter of the Vermont 
Agricultural College) "to teach such branches of learning as are related to Agricul- 
ture and the Mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education 
of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." With no 
more definiteness in either the Federal Act of appropriation or the charter of the 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College as to the manner of admin- 
istering this trust, there is a chance for much liberty of action. One of the leading 
objects of the institution being as stated above, the Commission can not say that 
the use made of the interest received from the grant named was not in substantial 
compliance with the provisions of the trust. 

By an Act of Congress, passed in 1887, there was established under direction of 
the college or colleges or agricultural departments of colleges in each state or terri- 
tory, established under the "Morrill Act of 1862," a department to be known and 
designated as an "Agricultural Experiment Station." The object and duty of 
experiment stations so established, is to conduct original researches or verify ex- 
periments on the subjects pertaining to agriculture, named in the Act, "and such 



96 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

other researches or experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the 
United States as may in each case be deemed advisable, having due regard to the 
varying conditions and needs of the respective States or Territories." 

This Act carried to each state an appropriation of $15,000 per annum. In 
1906 an Act was passed for the further endowment of such Agricultural Experi- 
ment Stations, carrying an appropriation and an annual increase of the amount 
thereof for five years, with the annual amount thereafter to be paid to each state 
and territory of $30,000. 

The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College receives under this 
Act of 1906, $30,000 annually for the purposes specified therein. 

The Commission believes as the presumption is, nothing appearing to the 
contrary, that this money has been and is being expended by the institution in 
accordance with the contemplation of the Acts of appropriation. 

By an Act of Congress approved May 8, 1914, an appropriation was made 
of $10,000 to be paid annually to each state which shall assent to the provisions 
of that Act, and also an additional sum for each fiscal year following that in which 
the foregoing appropriation first becomes available — all as, and upon the conditions, 
in said Act specified — for cooperative agricultural extension work, which "shall 
consist of the giving of instruction and practical demonstration in agriculture and 
home economics to persons not attending or resident in said colleges in the several 
communities, and imparting to such persons information on said subjects through 
field demonstrations, publications, and otherwise; and this work shall be carried 
on in such manner as may be mutually agreed upon by the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture and the State agricultural college or colleges receiving the benefits of this Act." 
The Act further provides "that no payment out of the additional appropriations 
herein provided shall be made in any year to any State until an equal sum has been 
appropriated for that year by the legislature of such State, or provided by State, 
county, college, local authority, or individual contributions from within the State, 
for the maintenance of the cooperative agricultural extension work provided for 
in this Act." 

The legislature of 1912 passed an Act of appropriation (No. 84) to meet such 
a contingency, but whether it amply meets the conditions of this Federal 
Act, we do not pretend to say. 

There is no danger of overvaluing such extension work to the agricultural 
industry of the state. Reference to this class of work is made in our discussion 
of vocational education. 

By Act of Congress, approved August 30, 1890, known as the " Morrill Act 
of 1890," it was provided that there should be appropriated to be paid to each 
state and territory, "for the more complete endowment and maintenance of col- 
leges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts" then established, or 
which might thereafter be established, in accordance with the Act of Congress 
approved July 2, 1862, the sum of $15,000 for the year ending June 30, 1890, and 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS »7 

an annual increase of the amount of such appropriation thereafter for ten years 
by an additional sum of $1,000 over the preceding year, and the sum of $25,000 
annually thereafter, "to be applied only to instruction in agriculture, the mechanic 
arts, the English language and the various branches of mathematical, physical, 
natural and economic science, with special reference to their applications in the 
industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction." And by Act of Congress 
approved March 4, 1907, known as the "Nelson Act," there was annually appro- 
priated, to each state and territory, "for the more complete endowment and main- 
tenance of agricultural colleges" then established, or which might thereafter be 
established, in accordance with the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and Act 
of Congress approved August 30, 1890, the sum of $5,000 in addition to the sums 
named in the said act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, and an annual in- 
crease of the amount of said appropriation thereafter for four years by an addition- 
al sum of $5,000 over the preceding year, and the annual sum of $50,000 to be 
paid thereafter to each state and territory, "to be applied only for the purposes of 
the agricultural colleges as defined and limited in the Act of Congress approved July 
second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the Act of Congress approved August 
thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, * * * and the expenditure of the said money 
shall be governed in all respects by the provisions of said Act of Congress approved 
July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the said Act of Congress ap- 
proved August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety : Provided, That said colleges 
may use a portion of this money for providing courses for the special preparation 
of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts." 

The Morrill Act of 1890 and the "Nelson Act" (1907) explicitly state that 
the appropriations thereunder (constituting the $50,000), shall "be applied only 
to instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language and the 
various branches of mathematical, physical, natural and economic science, with 
special reference to their applications in the industries of life, and to the facilities 
for such instruction." Under this provision, simply applying the money to instruc- 
tion in the several branches named would hardly seem to meet the requirement. 
It must be applied to instruction in those branches, how? "With special reference 
to their applications in the industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction." 
While the italics are ours, the word "special," as used in this phrase, shows that 
intended emphasis is placed upon this part of the requirement. 

In one state mining may be the predominating industry, in another, the manu- 
facturing of different commercial products, in another agriculture, as in Vermont. 
The intention of Congress was to specify particularly the different branches to 
which this fund should be applied, at the same time requiring the application to 
be made to those branches with special reference to their applications in the indus- 
tries of life, in the several states, respectively, thereby giving each state the most 
practical benefit in the line of its greatest industries. That this is in accordance 
with the true construction as recognized by the United States Department of 



!)8 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

Agriculture, seems manifest from Bulletins Nos. 142 and 164, issued by that Depart- 
ment and to which reference has already been made in this report: thus it was 
said by President Thompson in his address above noticed, (in Bulletin No. 142, 
page 92), referring to the provision of the Morrill Act of 1890, specifying the 
branches of instruction to which the funds of that appropriation could be applied 
and the required manner of application, that the debate in Congress leading up to 
this provision made clear the fact that the United States intended the money to 
be applied as there set forth; and that there was manifestly a feeling that some of 
the land-grant colleges had not kept strictly within the limits of the Act of 1862. 
It was said by President Kerr in his address, to which attention has been called 
(in Bulletin No. 164, page 123), that "In the land-grant colleges special emphasis 
should be placed upon the applications of science. Scientific investigations should 
be encouraged, but with the view of their practical value rather than for the purpose 
merely of extending the borders of knowledge. These colleges are primarily 
schools of technology, in which agriculture, the mechanic arts, domestic economy, 
and commerce may be regarded as distinctive features, the extent to which each 
institution should develop courses along these different lines varying with the 
conditions in the several states." He further said, "The work of the college 
should be that which relates most directly to the development of the resources 
and industries of each State, such, for example, as the irrigation enterprises so 
important in the reclamation of the arid and semi-arid regions, or certain manu- 
facturing interests in other sections of the country." 

And John Hamilton of the Office of Experiment Stations, in a paper entitled 
"The Open Door for the Land-grant College — The Farmers," also printed in 
Bulletin No. 164, page 126, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, 
said: 

"The supplemental Morrill bill of 1890 directs that the funds received under 
its provisions shall 'be applied only to instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, 
the English language, and the various branches of mathematical, physical, natural, 
and economic science, ivith special reference to their applications in the industries 
of life, and to the facilities for such instruction.' 

"This act not only cuts out all language studies except English, but it also 
emphasizes the important fact that such mathematical, physical, natural, and 
economic science studies as are taught shall be taught, not after the old traditional 
manner, but in an entirely new way, with 'special reference to their applications 
to the industries.' What industries? 

"The title of the bill indicates the 'industries' intended to be included. It 
declares the purpose to be "to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands 
to the more complete endowment of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and 
the mechanic arts' It does not say 'and for the other industries and professions 
in life,' but stops with the two great industries that were to be the leading objects 
of education, as indicated in the act of 1862. 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 99 

"This act of 1890, coming as it does twenty-eight years after the founding 
of the land-grant colleges, is in the nature of a definition or declaration of purpose 
of the act to which it is a supplement. Some of the colleges had used the funds 
of the original grant to teach mathematics, physical, natural, and economic science, 
together with language studies, in a way that directed men into professional life, 
or at least that did not lead them into industrial pursuits. This act of 1890 dis- 
tinctly prohibits such use of its funds, and by inference applies the same restric- 
tion to the original act, at least until the two leading industries — 'agriculture' 
and the 'mechanic arts' — have been fully provided for. 

"But why refer to this that ought to be, and doubtless is, familiar to every 
land-grant college officer.'' Simply by way of reminder of the fact that a 'door', 
wide and open to agriculture, was provided for by both of these national laws, 
and was directed to be swung in the front portal of every institution that accepted 
the grants which these two acts of Congress bestowed. 



"However much they (land-grant colleges) may have done in the past or 
may in the future do for the aid and elevation of men in their several pursuits and 
professions in life, they have signally failed of the main purpose of their creation 
if they have neglected to do for farming people not all that farming people need 
but all that modern knowledge in agricultural science has made it possible for 
them to do." 

Under date of November 26, 1900, a formal order regarding the classification 
of subjects under the various headings to be included in the reports of treasurers 
of colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts under the Morrill Act of 1890, and the 
Nelson Act of 1907, was issued by the Department at Washington, and the classi- 
fication in that circular is exactly like that in a pamphlet of rulings and instructions 
relative to those two Acts, approved by the United States Bureau of Education 
November 2, 1911. Sections 7, 8, and 9 of that pamphlet are as follows: 

7. No part of the funds received under the provisions of the acts of 1890 and 
1907 may be used for any form of extension work, and all instruction must be 
given at the institutions receiving these funds, except that a reasonable portion 
of the funds provided by the act of 1907 may be used for the instruction of teachers 
in agriculture, mechanic arts, and domestic science at summer schools, teachers' 
institutes, and by correspondence, and in supervising and directing work in these 
subjects in high schools. 

8. All or a part of the funds provided by the act of March 4, 1907, may be used 
"for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching the 
elements of agriculture and mechanic arts." It is held that this language authorizes 
expenditures for instruction in the history of agriculture and industrial education, 
in methods of teaching agriculture, mechanic arts, and home economics, and also 
for special aid and supervision given to teachers actively engaged in teaching 



100 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

agriculture, mechanic arts, and home economics in public schools. It does not 
authorize expenditures for general courses in pedagogy, psychology, history of 
education, and methods of teaching. 

9. In order that greater uniformity in the reports of treasurers may be obtained 
in the future, the following classification of subjects that may be included under 
the several schedules has been prepared, such classification to be adhered to by the 
treasurers of the various institutions in the preparation of their annual reports: 

Scliedule A. — Instruction in agriculture. 

1. Agriculture. 6. Dairying. 

2. Horticulture. 7. Veterinary science. 

3. Forestry. 8. Poultry industry. 

4. Agronomy. 9. Apiculture. 

5. Animal husbandry. 

Schedule B. — Instruction in mechanic arts. 

1. Mechanical engineering. 10. Architecture. 

2. Civil engineering. 11. Machine design. 

3. Electrical engineering. 12. Mechanical drawing. 

4. Irrigation engineering. 13. Ceramics. 

5. Mining engineering. 14. Stenography. 

6. Marine engineering. 15. Typewriting. 

7. Railway engineering. 16. Telegraphy. 

8. Experimental engineering. 17. Printing. 

0. Textile industry. 18. Shopwork. 

Schedule C. — Instruction in English language. 

1. English language. 4. Rhetoric. 

2. English literature. 5. Oratory. 

3. Composition. 

Schedule D. — Instruction in mathematical sciences. 

1. Mathematics. 3. Astronomy. 

2. Bookkeeping. 

Schedule R. — Instruction in natural and physical sciences. 

1. Chemistrj. 8. Metallurgy. 

2. Physics. 9. Entomology. 

3. Biology. 10. Physiology. 

4. Botany. 11. Bacteriology. 

5. Zoology. 12. Pharmacy. 

6. Geology. 13. Physical geography. 

7. Mineralogy. 14. Meteorology. 

Schedule V . — Instruction in economic sciences. 

1. Political economy. 3. Commercial geography. 

"i. Home economics. 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 101 

Schedule G. — Special preparation of teachers. 

1. History of industrial education (with special reference to agriculture, 

mechanic arts, and home economics). 
i. Methods of teaching agriculture, mechanic arts, and home economics. 
S. Special instruction to persons teaching agriculture, mechanic arts, and home 

economics. 

This classification is not construed by the Commission as intending that 
colleges shall be restricted in the expenditure of funds received from the Federal 
government to the subjects included in the classification, (if other subjects are 
fairly within the specifications of the grants,) nor as intending that colleges shall 
expend funds for all the subjects included in said classification. 

In an address before the Commission respecting the proposition that the 
trustees of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, in the expen- 
diture of the Federal moneys, have diverted the funds of the agricultural depart- 
ment to the other departments, a representative of that institution said: 

"If we had been inclined to do it (divert the fund that was given to us by the 
appropriation of the United States Government,) we couldn't have done it, because 
every dollar that comes from the government of the United States is, by the law, 
to be expended upon that campus — every dollar has been expended upon that 
campus; every dollar of it has been submitted to the government before they 
O. K.'ed it; every dollar has been O. K.'ed and approved by the government." 

In other words, the government's approval of the expenditure of these moneys 
is cited as a conclusive answer to the criticism made respecting their expenditure. 
To what extent such governmental approval is a bar to thj criticism, however, 
must be determined by the scope of the government's requirements and the inspec- 
tion upon which its approval is based, and whether the measure of its inspection 
is such as in practical operation to include the element which is more particularly 
of state concern, namely, that the expenditure shall be applied to instruction in 
the branches named, ivith special reference to their applications in the industries 
of life in the several states, and to the facilities for such instruction, varying according 
as the resources and the peculiar industries of the states may vary. 

By section 2 of the Morrill Act of 1890, the treasurers of colleges or other insti- 
tutions, entitled to receive sums of money thereunder, are "required to report to 
the Secretary of Agriculture and to the Secretary of the Interior, on or before the 
first day of September of each year, a detailed statement of the amount so received 
and of its disbursement." By the regulations of the Department of the Interior 
such reports require a separate statement with respect to the money expended for 
salaries of instructors and for facilities in each of the several branches named in 
the statute, each branch being separately reported by schedules designated by 
the letters "A", "B", "C", and so forth. From 1891 to and including 1913, the 
form of the reports varies slightly, but throughout, the general scheme of reports by 



102 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

schedules remained. To these reports a statement, signed by the treasurer, appears 
as follows: 

"7 Hereby Certify that the above account is correct and true, and, together with 
the schedules hereunto attached, truly represents the details of expenditures for the 
period and by the institution named; that said expenditures were applied only to 
instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various 
branches of mathematical, physical, natural, and economic science, with special 
reference to their applications in the industries of life, and to the facilities for such 
instruction; and that no part of these funds was expended for the erection, preser- 
vation, or repair of any building or buildings." 

After the passage of the Nelson Act of 1907, permitting the use of a portion 
of the money for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for 
teaching the elements of agriculture and mechanic arts, this certificate was changed 
by inserting after the words, "industiies of life," the following: "to the special 
preparation of instructors for teaching the elements of agriculture and the mechanic 
arts." 

It is clear that, beyond said certificate, the Federal government received by 
these reports nothing upon which to base an approval that the expenditures reported 
were applied to the several branches of instruction "with special reference to their 
applications in the industries of life." 

The Commission deems it of importance to set forth the following summaries 
of said reports: 

Report for 1891. 
Received, 

Dec. 18, 1890, $15,000.00 

March 16, 1891, 16,000.00 

Disbursed for instruction and facilities 

In agriculture, $ 3,537.59 

In mechanic arts, 4,210.39 

In English language, 1,803.93 

In mathematical science, 1,841.74 

In physical science, 1,761.39 

In economic science, 1,504.63 

Balance unexpended, 14.514.76 



$31,000.00 $31,000.00 

Report for 1S9S. 
Balance from 1891, $14,514.76 

Received, 17,000.00 

Disbursed for instruction and facilities 

In agriculture, $ 6,750.05 

In mechanic arts, 14,267.18 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 103 



In English language 




1,750.00 


In mathematical science. 




2,550.00 


In physical science, 




1,750.00 


In natural science, 




2,346.00 


In economic science. 




1,500.00 


Balance unexpended. 




601.53 




$31,514.76 


$31,514.76 


Report for 1893. 






Balance from 1892, 


$ 601.53 




Received, 


18,000.00 




Disbursed for instruction and facilities 






In agriculture. 




$ 3,376.53 


In mechanic arts. 




3,500.00 


In English language. 




1,750.00 


In mathematical science. 




2,750.00 


In physical science, 




3,500.00 


In natural science. 




1,500.00 




$18,601.53 


$18,601.53 


Report for 189 Jt. 






Received, 


$19,000.00 




Disbursed for instruction and facilities 






In agriculture. 




$"3,360.00 


In civil engineering. 




'3,500.00 


In rhetoric and English literature. 




1,750.00 


In mathematics. 




2,750.00 


In physics and electrical engineering. 




5,390.00 


In political economy. 




2,250.00 




$19,000.00 


$19,000.00 


Report for 1895. 






Received, 


$20,000.00 




Disbursed: 






Mathematics and English in Agricultural depart 


■- 




ment, agricultural chemistry, botany, agricul 


1- 




ture and horticulture, dairying. 




$ 3,044.75 


Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. 




10,704 07 


Rhetoric and literature. 




2,000.00 


Mathematics and physics, 




2,000.00 


Chemistry, 




1,251.18 


Political economy, 




1,000.00 




$20,000.00 


$20,000.00 



104 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 



Report for 1896. 




Received, $21,000.00 




Disbursed: 




Mathematics and English in agricultural depart- 




ment, agricultural chemistry, botany and 




horticulture. 


$ 3,400.00 


Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. 


8,100.00 


Rhetoric and literature. 


3.000.00 


Mathematics and physics. 


3,500.00 


Chemistry, 


2,000.00 


Political economy, 


1,000.00 


$21,000.00 


$21,000.00 


Report for 1897. 




Received, $22,000.00 




Disbursed: 




Mathematics and English in agricultural depart- 




ment, agricultural chemistry, botany and 




horticulture. 


$ 3,450.00 


Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. 


8,300.00 


Rhetoric and literature, 


1,750.00 


Mathematics and physics. 


3,750.00 


Chemistry and natural history. 


3.750.00 


Political economy. 


1,000.00 


$22,000.00 


$22,000.00 


Report for 1S9S. 




Received, $23,000.00 




Disbursed: 




English and mathematics in agricultural depart- 




ment, agricultural chemistry, botany and 




horticulture, 


$ 3,450.00 


Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. 


8,300.00 


Rhetoric, literature and elocution, 


2,750.00 


Mathematics and physics. 


3,750.00 


Chemistry and natural history. 


3,750.00 


Political economy. 


1,000.00 


$23,000.00 


$23,000.00 


Report for 1899. 




Received, $24,000.00 




Disbursed: 




English and mathematics in agricultural depart- 




ment, chemistry, botany and horticulture. 


$ 3,650.00 


Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. 


8,700.00 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 105 

Rhetoric, literature and elocution, 2,900.00 

Mathematics and phy.sics, 3,850.00 

Chemistry and natural history, 3,900.00 

Political economy. 1,000.00 

$24,000.00 $24,000.00 



Re-port jor 1900. 
Received, $25,000.00 

Disbursed : 

English and mathematics in asricultural depart- 
ment, chemistry, botany and horticulture, $ 4,074.98 
Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, 8,900.00 
Rhetoric, literature and elocution, 3,100.00 
Mathematics and physics, 3,925.02 
Chemistry and natural history, 3.900.00 
Political economy. 1,100 00 

$25,000.00 $25,000.00 



Report for 1901. 




Received, $25,000.00 




Disbursed: 




English and mathematics, chemistry, botany 




and horticulture. 


$ 3,624.98 


Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, 


9,350.00 


Rhetoric, literature and elocution. 


3.100.00 


Mathematics and physics. 


3,925.02 


Chemistry and natural history. 


3,900.00 


Political economy. 


1,100.00 



$25,000.00 $25,000.00 



Report for 1902. 

Received, $25,000.00 

'isbursed: 
Horticulture, 

Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, 
English, rhetoric, literature and elocution. 
Mathematics, 
Chemistry, natural history, biology, botany and 

physics. 
Political economy. 


$ 875.00 
7,800.00 
4,225.00 
3,100.02 

7,899.98 
1,100.00 


$25,000.00 


$25,000.00 



106 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

Report for 1903. 



Received, $25,000.00 




Disbursed : 




Horticulture, 


$ 743 75 


Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, 


7,931.25 


English, rhetoric, literature and elocution. 


4,225.00 


Mathematics, 


3,100.02 


Chemistry, natural liistory, biology, botany and 




physics, 


7,899.98 


Political economy. 


1,100.00 



$25,000.00 $25,000.00 

Report for 190i. 
Received, $25,000.00 

Disbursed: 

Horticulture, $ 737.50 

Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, 8,600.00 

English, rhetoric, literature and elocution, 4,825.00 

Mathematics, 2,375.00 

Chemistry, natural history, biology, botany and 

physics, 7,849.98 

Political economy, 612.52 



$25,000.00 $25,000.00 

Report for 1905. 

Received, $25,000.00 

Disbursed: 

Chemistry in agricultural department and horti- 
culture, $ 1,500.00 

Civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, 7,800.00 

Enplish, elocution, rhetoric and oratory, 3,875.00 

Mathematics, 2,875.00 

Chemistry, geology, zoology, biology, botany 

and physics, 7,850.00 

Political economy, 1,100.00 



$25,000.00 $25,000.00 

Report for 1906. 
Received, $25,000.00 

Disbursed : 

Agriculture, dairying, horticulture, agronomy 

and veterinary science, $ 2,500.00 

Civil, electrical, mechanical and railway engi- 
neering and machuie drawing, 7,400.00 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 107 

English language, literature, composition, rheto- 



ric and oratory, 




2,500.00 


Mathematics, astronomy and book-keeping, 




3,250.00 


Chemistry, geology, zoology, entomology, 




botany, physics and mineralogy. 




7,850.00 


Political economy, 




1,500.00 




$25,000.00 


$25,000 00 


Report for 1907. 






Received, 


$25,000.00 




Disbursed: 






Agriculture, 




$ 2,500.00 


Mechanic arts. 




7,400.00 


English language, 




2,500.00 


Mathematical science. 




3,250.00 


Natural or physical science. 




7,850.00 


Economic science. 




1,500.00 




$25,000.00 


$25,000.00 


Report for 1908. 






Received, 


$30,000.00 




Disbursed: 






Agriculture, 




$ 6,000.00 


Mechanic arts, 




7,400.00 


English language. 




2,900.00 


Mathematical gpience. 




3,250.00 


Natural or physical science. 




8,950.00 


Economic science, 




1,500.00 




$30,000,00 


$30,000.00 


Report for 1909 






Received, 
Disbursed : 


$35,000.00 




Agriculture, 




$ 1,466.00 


Mechanic arts, 




11,434.00 


English language. 




3,900.00 


Mathematical science. 




5,700.00 


Natural or physical science, 




12,500.00 




$35,000.00 


$35,000.00 


Report for 1910 






Received, 


$40,000.00 




Disbursed : 






Agriculture, 




$ 3,893.59 


Mechanic arts. 




12,974.65 



108 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

English language, 3,180.95 

Mathematical science, 4,450.00 

Natural or physical science, 12,225.81 

Economic science, 3,125.00 
Training of teachers of elementary agriculture 

and mechanic arts, 150.00 



$40,000.00 


$40,000.00 


Refortjor 1911. 




Received, $45,000.00 




'isDurseQ I 
Agriculture, 


$ 4,288.14 


Mechanic arts, 


11,736.60 


English language. 


3,290.63 


Mathematical science. 


4.950.02 


Natural or physical science. 


16,877.23 


Economic science. 


3,557.38 


Training of teachers of elementary agriculture 




and mechanic arts, 


300.00 



$45,000.00 $45,000.00 

Report for 1912. 
Received, $50,000.00 

Di-sbursed : 

Agriculture, $ 5,481.39 

Mechanic arts, ^ 13,202.34 

English language, 4,122.92 

Mathematical science, 5,240.00 

Natural or physical science, 1 6,905 .45 

Economic science, 4,697.90 
Training of teachers of elementary agriculture 
and mechanic arts. 



$50,000.00 $50,000.00 

Re/port for 1913. 
Received, $50,000.00 

Disbursed : 

Agriculture, $ 6.687.11 

Mechanic arts, 14,519.77 

English language, 5,166.32 

Mathematical science, 3,000.00 

Natural or physical science. 15,468.46 

Economic science, 4,633.34 
Training of teachers of elementary agriculture 

and mechanic arts, 525.00 



$50,000.00 $50,000.00 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 109 

It will be noticed that beginning with the year 1895 and continuing through 
the report for 1906, the several subdivisions of disbursements are not designated 
by the words of the statute as in the reports prior to 1895 and since 1906. It 
seems apparent, however, that the seven subdivisions, referring to their respective 
schedules, were intended to preserve in the reports the separation of branches desig- 
nated in the statute. 

The report of the Carnegie Foundation, respecting the expenditure of the 
Federal appropriation in 1912, says: "In other words, of the total sum of $50,000 
received by the trustees from the United States government because of the presence 
of the Agricultural College, only $5,481 are spent otherwise than would be the 
case if the Agricultural College existed elsewhere." The University of Vermont 
and State Agricultural College, as an institution of higher learning, has made 
prominent the instruction it offers in the liberal arts — instruction of a purely cul- 
tural type. It is, therefore, somewhat surprising to learn that its largest activi- 
ties are due to the fact that it is the State Agricultural College, by virtue of which 
it receives the Federal appropriation. Many of its courses of instruction, neces- 
sarily a part of a college of liberal arts merely, and required by it of all its academic 
students, are sustained either wholly, or nearly so, by the expenditure of this appro- 
priation. This is particularly true of English and mathematics as disclosed by 
these reports and the several catalogues of the institution. It is true that the 
Federal statute expressly authorizes the expenditure of the appropriation for in- 
struction in these subjects; but the Commission believes that the expenditure of 
the Federal funds for instructing classical and literary-scientific students in those 
subjects, as long as anything remains to be done to advance instruction in the more 
practical branches of agriculture and the mechanic arts, is not applying such ex- 
penditures to instruction required by the statute "with special reference to their 
applications in the industries of life." 

Taking the amount shown by the foregoing summaries to have been expended 
each year from 1891 to 1913, inclusive, as a basis of computation, it gives the per- 
centum expended for agriculture as follows: 

1891 21.45% 

1892 21.83% 

1893 18.15% 

1894 17.68% 

1895 15.22% 

1896 16.19% 

1897 15.68% 

1898 15. % 

1899 15.2 % 

1900 15.89% 

1901 14.49% 

1902 3.5 % 

1903 2.97% 



110 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

1904 2.95% 

1905 6. % 

1906 . 10. % 

1907 10. % 

1908 20. % 

1909 4.18% 

1910 9.73% 

1911 9.5 % 

1912 10.96% 

1913 13.37% 

In this connection it is important to notice not only the facts reported by 
the Carnegie Foundation respecting the disbursement of Federal funds under the 
Morrill Act of 1890 and the Nelson Act of 1907, by the University of Vermont 
and State Agricultural College, but also facts and statistics in the hands of the 
Commission, from other sources, showing the disbursement of Federal funds under 
the provisions of the same Acts of Congress, by institutions, known as "agricultural 
and mechanical colleges," in other states. 

It appears (from the report of the Carnegie Foundation, page 168), that the 
$50,000 received annually by the University of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College, from the United States Treasury, under the grants of 1890 and 1907, is 
spent, according to the University's report, as follows: 

Engineering (or Mechanic Arts) $13,302 

Natural and Physical Sciences ($11 ,246 ) ^ „ (. „„ 

Botany and Zoology ( 5,660 [ ^°'^"° 

Agriculture 5,481 

Mathematics 5,240 

Economic Science 4,697 

English 4,122 

Sundries 252 

Total $50,000 

The foregoing tabulated statement, after including the subjects of Botany 
and Zoology under the head of Natural and Physical Sciences, as is done by the 
United States Commissioner of Education, in Vol. II, page 362, of his report for 
the year ending June 30, 1912, shows a percentage of appropriation expended for 
instruction in the various subjects as follows: — 

Subjects Per Cent 

Engineering (Mechanic Arts) 26.60% 

Natural and Physical Science 33.81 % 

Agriculture 10.96% 

Mathematics 10.48% 

Economic Science 9.39% 

English 8.24% 

Sundries .5 % 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 111 

The United States Commissioner of Education, in the same volume, on pages 
361-363, gives a tabulated statement of disbursement of funds received under the 
Morrill Act of 1890, and the Nelson Act of 1907, by colleges of agriculture and me- 
chanic arts in all of the states of the Union, for the j^ear ending June 30, 1912. 
Computing the per centum from that statement, it appears that those appropria- 
tions (aggregating the $50,000), were expended by the colleges receiving them in 
the six New England States and in New York, (we include New York because it 
is an adjoining state,) respectively, for instruction in agriculture, as follows: Con- 
necticut, 57.17 %, Maine, 20.7 %, Massachusetts, 35.26 %, New Hampshire, 27.76 %, 
New York, 27.25 %, Rhode Island, 25.8 %, Vermont, 10.96 %. Thus Vermont is shown 
to have expended for that purpose in per centum a trifle more than one half the 
sum expended by Maine, less than two fifths the sum expended by New Hampshire, 
a trifle more than two fifths the sum expended by New York, less than one half the 
sum expended by Rhode Island, less than one third the sum expended by Massa- 
chusetts, and less than one fifth the sum expended by Connecticut. 

We quote from page 336 of the same volume of the Report of the United States 
Commissioner, regarding the average percentage of the appropriation from the 
general government, expended for instruction in the various subjects, beginning 
with the year 1904 and ending with the year 1912, as follows: 

"The total appropriated for the year ending June 30, 1912, from the United 
States Treasury in aid of the land-grant colleges under the provisions of the acts 
of August 30, 1890, and March 4, 1907, was $2,500,000, each State receiving 
$25,000 under the Morrill Act of 1890 and $25,000 under the Nelson Act of 1907. 
Sums from this amount were expended for instruction in the various subjects in 
the proportion shown in the table following : 

" Percentage of appropriation expended for instruction in various subjects. 



Subjects 


1904 


1905 


1906 


1907 


1908 


1909 


1910 


1911 


1912 


Agriculture 


16.8 


16.8 


17.6 


17.7 


19.3 


21.2 


20.1 


22.5 


22.0 


Mechanic Arts 


29.5 


29.6 


30.5 


30.9 


27.8 


26.9 


27.9 


26.7 


26.3 


Eng. Language 


12.3 


12.4 


11.7 


10.9 


10.7 


10.1 


10.0 


10.1 


8.9 


Math. Science 


11.8 


11.8 


11.6 


11.6 


11.0 


10.7 


9.4 


9.3 


10.0 


Nat. & Phy. Sci. 


23.4 


23.2 


22.7 


23.2 


24.9 


23.2 


23.8 


23.7 


26.5 


Economic Sci. 


6.2 


6.2 


5.9 


5.7 


5.6 


5.7 


5.5 


5.9 


5.4 


Train, of Teacher 

of 
El. Agri. & Mech. 










.7 


2.2 


3.3 


1.8 


.9 




















Arts 


















" 



In connection therewith the facts show that in 1893 when this appropriation 
stood at $18,000 the trustees allotted $3,376 to distinctly agricultural education. 
Thereafter these appropriations increased to the extent of $1,000 a year up to the 
year 1900 when it amounted to $25,000. The annual appropriation stood at that 



112 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

sum until the year 1908 when it was $30,000, increasing thereafter annually by 
$5,000 until the year 1912 when it was $50,000, at which sum annually it has 
since remained. Adverting to the tabulated statement of the per cent expended 
annually for agriculture by the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, 
(shown on pp 109-10,) it is seen that after the year 1893 the per cent thus expended 
in the majority of the years grew less until in 1901 it was 14.49 %; that thereafter 
for four con.secutive years it was 3.5 %, 2.97 %, 2.95 %, and 6 %, respectively; that 
in the next three years it was increased to 10 % in each of the first two years and 
to 20% in the third, which was 1908; that in 1909 it was 4.18%, in 1910 it was 
9.73%, in 1911 it was 9.5%, in 1912 it was 10.96%, and in 1913 it was 13.37%. 
The average annually during the last twelve years being 8.59 %. 

It appears that before money was received from the general government under 
the Morrill Act of 1890, complaints were made by the State Grange that the Feder- 
al appropriation received by the University of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College was not being expended by it with due respect for agriculture; that inves- 
tigations concerning it were made by persons representing the State Grange, by 
persons representing the state legislature, and by a person representing the gen- 
eral government; that reports based upon such investigations were made against 
the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College by those persons so 
representing the State Grange, and in favor of it by those persons representing 
the legislature, and by the person so representing the general government; and 
that addresses were delivered by men high in civil life, having knowledge of the 
matter, explaining the object of the Morrill Act of 1862, and commending the course 
of the University relative thereto. Yet so far as these things were prior to the 
Morrill Act of 1890, they can have no bearing on questions pertaining to the expen- 
diture of moneys under the specific provisions of that grant. 

At a hearing before the Commission, the President of the University quoted 
from an address delivered by Senator Justin S. Morrill at the Commencement 
of the University on the 28th of June, 1893, in which he spoke at considerable 
length of that institution as a land-grant college, and commended its work in 
carrying out the purpose of the Federal grants. Yet it should be remembered 
that this address was delivered the third year after the enactment of the 
second Morrill Act which was approved on August 30, 1890. It appears that no 
money was received under this grant until December 18, 1890, so that when Sena- 
tor Morrill delivered the address mentioned, the institution had had the benefit 
of that appropriation for three years. In those three years the portion of that 
money expended for instruction and facilities in agriculture was as follows: In 
1891, 21.45%, in 1892, 21.83%,; and in 1893, 18.15%. Senator Morrill died (in 
1898) before the annual sum of that appropriation reached the full $25,000, and 
more than eight years before the Nelson Act of 1907. increasing the Federal appro- 
priation so that four years thenceforth it should amount to $50,000, was passed. 
When he spoke in 1893, he had been a trustee of the Universitj' of Vermont and 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 113 

State Agricultural College a long time, and presumably was conversant with the 
way the funds received under the Morrill Act of 1890 had been distributed up to 
that time. The percentage was afterwards decreased within his lifetime to 15 %, 
but how he looked upon such decrease, or whether he gave the matter any attention 
in the last years of his life, the Commission has no information. 

What Senator Morrill would say today, were he alive with knowledge of 
what has taken place in these respects since the time of his death, no one can tell. 
But with common knowledge of his great services to the State of Vermont, of his 
unceasing labors in the interest of the industries of the state and particularly that 
of agriculture, what can one imagine he would say to know that in lOO^, within 
four years after his death, but 3.5 % was expended on agriculture by the land- 
grant college in Vermont; that in 1903, but 2.97% was so expended by that insti- 
tution; that in 1904 when the average expenditure for such purpose by the land- 
grant colleges in this country, from the same appropriation, was 16.8 %, in Vermont 
it was but 2.95 %; that in 1905 when the average expenditure by such colleges was 
16.8%, in Vermont it was but 6%; that in 1906 when the average expenditure by 
such colleges was 17.6 %, in Vermont it was but 10 %; that in 1907 when the average 
expenditure by such colleges was 17.7%, in Vermont it was but 10%; that in 1908 
when the average expenditure by such colleges was 19.3 %, in Vermont it was raised 
to 20%; that in 1909 when the average expenditure by such colleges was 21.2%, 
in Vermont it was lowered to but 4.18 %; that in 1910 when the average expenditure 
by such colleges was 21.1 %, in Vermont it was but 9.73 %; that in 1911 when the 
average expenditure by such colleges was 22.5%, in Vermont it was but 9.5%; 
that in 1912 when the average expenditure by such colleges was 22 %, in Vermont 
it was but 10.96 %; and that in Vermont the annual average during the last twelve 
years was but 8.59%. 

Certainly one should note the change of circumstances and consider pretty 
carefully before applying what Senator Morrill said in 1893 to the conditions of 
things as they have existed since his death, and before considering what he said 
on that occasion, as approving the course that has been pursued in this respect by 
that institution since his death. 

Furthermore it has been suggested that there has been a tacit approval of 
the University's construction of these Acts of appropriation and of its use of the 
funds, but such suggestion is without force for two or three reasons, though we 
need mention but one, namely, that not since the passage of the Morrill Act of 
1890 have the people of this state had knowledge of the material facts as to the 
manner in which the funds therein appropriated were being applied distributively, 
and nothing is more firmly settled as a legal or equitable principle than that there 
can be no acquiescence without knowledge of all the material facts. "And a 
cestui que trust" it is said in Volume 2, of Leading Cases in Equity, notes, page 
1789, "will not be affected with constructive knowledge of a breach of trust merely 
because he might by inquiries have discovered it." 



114 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

It can not be said that the funds received under the Morrill Act of 1890 and under 
the Nelson Act of 1907, have been expended for purposes unauthorized by the Acts of 
appropriation; and it is true that the treasurer's reports have been approved by the 
Department at Washington. Yet is this a full answer to the complaint that these 
funds are being used by this institution without showing that degree of respect for 
the leading industry of the state, fairly contemplated by the Acts of appropriation? 

Considering the superlative importance of agriculture among the industries 
of life in this state, is it not a matter for serious reflection, whether the distribu- 
tive expenditure of said annual fund in a way to apply only the small varying 
per cent shown within the last dozen years, with an average of only 8.59 %, to 
distinctively agricultural education, is applying that fund to instruction in the 
branches named in the Acts of appropriation "with special reference to their applica- 
tions in the industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction" as they have 
been and are known to exist in this state? 

The phrase quoted is an important part of the law. It was manifestly inserted 
in the interests of the several states. It may be disregarded in the expenditure of 
the funds, and yet the reports of treasurers be approved by the Department, 
because the expenditures reported were for purposes authorized. This is as far 
as the general government would be likely to interest itself, and as far as its approval 
of the treasurer's reports has much significance or bearing on the question under 
consideration. Whether the requirement of that phrase be observed by the insti- 
tution receiving the funds, is a matter peculiarly of state concern. It is in the 
interest of the public welfare that the institution develop courses of instruction 
along the line of the state's leading industries; and so to do, amounts to no more 
on the part of the institution than the faithful performance of its duties toward 
the people of the state, the real beneficaries of the trust. Faithful performance 
in this respect requires not only that the expenditure be authorized by the Acts 
of appropriation, but that it conform to the provisions of the trust in their true 
spirit, intent, and meaning. It is said by Mr. Pomeroy, in his work on Equity 
Jurisprudence, Vol. 2, Sec. 1062, that trustees are bound in the first place, "to 
conform strictly to the directions of the trust." And that, "A trustee can use 
the property only for the purposes contemplated in the trust, and must conform 
to the provisions of the trust in their true spirit, intent, and meaning, and not 
merely in their letter." 

In the matter of Tappan's Appeal, found in the 52d of Connecticut Reports, 
page 412, the testatrix suggested four different modes for the administration and 
dispensation of the public charity there in question, and declared her preference 
for the first mode named "if the same be made practical and legal for the purpose;" 
but if for any reason the first named mode could not be legally carried into effect, 
then she declared her preference for the second mode suggested; in like manner 
for the third and fourth modes in their order. It was held that the appellent was 
in error when .she claimed that the trustees had the discretionary power to select 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 115 

either of the modes prescribed for administration of the trust; that they had no 
discretion in the matter; that they must take the first, if that mode should be 
found to be practicable and legal; but if not, then they must resort to the second, 
and that must be the mode, if legal for the purpose, and so on with the third and 
fourth modes stated. 

In the opinion of the Commission, the phrase quoted above from the Morrill 
Act of 1890, considered in its relation to the entire provision of which it is a part, 
was intended to prescribe, and does prescribe with reasonable certainty, the course 
to be pursued in making the annual distributive allotment of the appropriation 
under that Act to the branches named therein, and this course must be substan- 
tially followed in order to effect a performance of the trust in a manner that shall 
properly respect the state's leading industries of life; and, except as to such portion 
as may be used in the special preparation of instructors for teaching agriculture 
and the mechanic arts, the same course was prescribed to be followed in the expen- 
diture of the moneys appropriated under the Nelson Act of 1907. The Commission 
is of the further opinion that, owing to the policy of the trustees of the University 
of Vermont and State Agricultural College, this course has not been substantially 
followed in the expenditure of the moneys received under these two acts of appro- 
priation, and consequently that that institution has failed to perform its duties and 
obligations in conformity with the true spirit, intent, and meaning of the provi- 
sions of the trust, and it is so determined. 

It is manifest that as to agriculture, efScient work and satisfactory results 
can not be had in this institution without a change in the policy of the trustees. 
Moreover it appears that the agricultural equipment of the institution is meager — 
too meager for the kind and the quality of work which should be done. This meager- 
ness may fairly be assigned, first, to the fact that the moneys under the Federal 
appropriations have, to so disproportionately small extent, been applied to agricul- 
ture and to facilities for instructions therein; and secondly, to inadequate aid by 
way of specific state appropriations; — to the former, more than to the latter. 

The report of the Carnegie Foundation under the subdivision of "The State 
Agricultural College," pages 164-172, should be carefully studied. We quote 
with approval therefrom: 

"To sum up the situation with respect to the College of Agriculture, it may be 
said that its courses are not based upon a consistent educational policy, that the 
equipment for teaching is meager, that on their practical side the courses seriously 
lack equipment, and that by reason of these conditions the College of Agriculture 
is not adapted to serve well either the needs of the boy who desires to be a practical 
farmer or those of the youth who looks toward a scientific training in agriculture, 
and finally, that this whole situation has lent itself to a regime under which the 
college has a very slender connection with the agricultural industries of the state. 
It does not help or guide these industries in any such way as should be expected of 
an eflScient agricultural college. 



116 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

"These statements are not made with any desire to criticize the professors 
in the Agricultural College. These professors are excellent men, and they have 
done admirably with the means that they have had at their command. The situa- 
tion in which the College of Agriculture finds itself — the lack of equipment, the 
empirical quality of its courses, and the failure to connect itself with the industries 
of the state — is the result of a policy of administration for which the trustees are 
responsible. This consists in the expenditure that the trustees make of the generous 
annual gift that the state receives from the United States government. * * * 



"The most practical and definite obligation of the state at the present time in 
higher education is to see that a clear policy is entered upon as to the function of 
the Agricultural College, and that then, in the second place, the college shall be 
adequately supported. 



" * * * By every consideration of efficiency and of state pride the commonwealth 
should insist that a fair proportion of the United States annual grant shall go into 
agricultural instruction, and it should supplement this income by such means as 
are necessary to effect the contact between the agricultural school and the agricul- 
tural industries, a cause which is not within the provisions of the grants made by 
the general government. 



"In addition to giving to the Agricultural College an adequate support, it is 
also clearly the duty of the trustees to set the Agricultural Experiment Station free 
to bend its efforts directly and energetically to the investigation of those problems 
who.se solution means so much to the individual farmer and dairyman. There is 
an enormous field in Vermont for the Agricultural College and the Agricultural 
Experiment Station, but in order that these agencies may do their work, there 
must be a clear conception of what that work ought to be, a suitable organization 
for carrying it out, and a use of the money now in hand for the purposes of agricul- 
ture rather than for the purposes of general instruction." 

It is not the purpose of the Commission to belittle any other branches of educa- 
tion, nor does the Commission recommend the taking from such other branches, 
or any of them, any portion of the money received under the Federal grants, which, 
under the proper administration of the trust connected with those grants, should 
be applied to such other branches. To do that would be as much a deviation from 
the proper course as it is to deprive agriculture of the portion to which it is entitled. 
By giving emphasis to agricultural education in the University of Vermont and 
State Agricultural College, the Commission is not to be understood as in any sense 



FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS 117 

narrowing education. As already seen, agriculture is Vermont's predominating 
industry of life and it is the duty of this Commission to make recommendations 
looking to the proper application of the money allotted to that institution under 
legislation requiring such money to be expended by it with special reference to 
the relative prominence of the state's industries. 

The Commission believes that a change in policy by the trustees may be looked 
for, whereby agriculture will receive proper consideration in the annual distribu- 
tive expenditure of the Federal appropriations. This belief is based particularly 
upon what was said at a hearing before the Commission by one of the prominent 
trustees. He was asked by one of the Commissioners if he thought that they had 
expended the Federal agricultural appropriation wisely and well from the stand- 
point of the purpose for which it was made. Protesting that there had been no 
misuse of the Federal funds, he answered in substance that he thought the time has 
come when the policy of the institution towards the agricultural appropriation is 
wrong; that from now on they have, and perhaps from a time that dates back possibly 
eight or ten years they had, the opportunity to make better use of that Federal 
appropriation ; and that if the policy was wrong it should have been corrected 
before, but certainly should be corrected now, — adding that he had previously 
taken this position on the board of trustees. 

With a change effected in this direction, so as fairly, and reasonably, and sym- 
pathetically to conform to the provisions of the trust in their true spirit, intent, 
and meaning, the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College may be 
looked to for efficient training in scientific agriculture; but in the judgment of the 
Commission its agricultural function should not include training in practical voca- 
tional farming at the institution, beyond what may be essential to the efficient 
performance of its function to develop scientific agriculture, or what may be nec- 
essary there in carrying out the extension work under the Acts of Congress. The 
teaching of practical vocational farming and the incidents thereto constitute the 
function of the State Agricultural School at Randolph. The Commission believes 
that neither of these institutions can efficiently perform the functions of the other, 
and that neither should, in any real sense, attempt to encroach upon or duplicate 
the work of the other. As to the proper function of the Agricultural College we 
call attention to the report of the Carnegie Foundation (page 171) : 

"Shall the function of the Agricultural College be to train farm boys in the tech- 
nique of their vocation in some such way as they are trained in the agricultural 
school at Lyndonville, or shall its function be to develop scientific agriculture in 
Vermont? Either one of these functions is defensible, but they cannot both be 
carried on simultaneously. Our experience of fifty years in agricultural education 
goes to show that a trade school will not grow in a university atmosphere, and that 
the real function of a university college of agriculture is the promotion of scientific 
agriculture and the maintenance at the same time of right relations to elementary 
agricultural training-schools. The second, and in some ways the greatest, function 



118 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

of a technical college of agriculture is the development of a fruitful and stimulating 
relation with the farming industries of the state in which it stands. To be in close 
touch with the agricultural problems of the state, to deal with these problems by 
the best means that science affords, and to put the fruits of these investigations 
by simple, direct, and feasible methods into the hands of the farmers themselves, 
is the greatest function that such an agency can perform." 

In this connection, it should further be said by way of emphasizing the impor- 
tance of this class of instruction, that, in order for efficient work in the high 
schools of the state along the lines of agriculture, it is essential that teachers be 
had, who are c|ualified therefor, and to the University of Vermont and State Agri- 
cultural College, the state must largely look for the training of such teachers. 

It is said in the report of the United States Commissioner of Education, for 
the year ending June 30, 1913, (of which volume I only is out,) page 212: 

"The increase in the number of students in the agricultural colleges was greater in 
1912-13 than ever before, and the increase was well distributed throughout the 
United States. A large part of this increase is due to the demand for teachers of 
agriculture and for county demonstration agents. 



"According to the most reliable information obtainable, there were about 
2,300 high schools in the United States teaching agriculture in 1912-13. This 
indicates an increase of about 300 over the previous year. * * * 

"Agriculture is more and more coming to be considered a fit subject of study 
for the elementary school, but at the same time the need of trained teachers is 
widely recognized as a serious hindrance." 

In the passage of the Nelson Act of 1907, the Congress of the United States, 
in an unqualified manner, recognized the importance of having specially trained 
teachers, by authorizing the use of a portion of the money thereby appropriated 
in "providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching the 
elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts." And in the ruHngs and instruc- 
tions approved by the United States Bureau of Education November 2, 1911, 
section 8 reads: 

"8. All or a part of the funds provided by the act of March 4, 1907, may be 
used 'for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching 
the elements of agriculture and mechanic arts.' It is held that this language 
authorizes expenditures for instruction in the history of agriculture and industrial 
education, in methods of teaching agriculture, mechanic arts, and home economics, 
and also for special aid and supervision gi\-en to teachers actively engaged in teach- 
ing agriculture, mechanic arts, and home economics in public schools. It does not 
authorize expenditures for general courses in pedagogy, psychology, history of 
education, and methods of teaching." 



COLLEGE OF MEDICINE 119 

The national policy thus shown voices a sentiment that should touch a respon- 
sive chord throughout this domain. 

In the mind of the Commission, the state, acting in the special interest of her 
great agricultural industry, proper assurances being had, may well lend such aid as 
shall be reasonably necessary to the suitable equipment of the agricultural depart- 
ment of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College; and believing 
that henceforward there will be an increasing need of trained teachers qualified to 
teach agriculture in the secondary schools of the state, and consequently that the 
production of such teachers by the L^niversity of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College will be for the special interest of the state, the Commission recommends 
that the board of education be authorized to make suitable arrangements with that 
institution for the training of this class of teachers, if it can be done upon a reason- 
able basis without duplication as discussed in the chapter on Duplication, and that 
money be appropriated to enable the board, under its supervision, to carry out the 
arrangements so made, and that the work under this arrangement should be done in 
such a manner as shall make the department, to all intents and purposes though 
not in law, relate to the state. 

3. University of Vermont — College of Medicine 

In support of the claim that the University of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College is not a private but a public corporation and therefore entitled as a matter 
of right to state support, representatives of that institution have said little respecting 
the exact relationship existing between the College of Medicine and the state. 
After a century of existence of merely a nominal connection with the University 
of Vermont, the College of Medicine was made, in 1899, "a coordinating department 
of the university under the control of the board of trustees." In 1911, according 
to the catalogue, it was "made a part of the university system," and no claim has 
been made before the Commission that it was in character, that is, public or private, 
different from the institution of which it thus forms a part. 

The Commission has signally failed in its purpose if it has not made clear the 
principle upon which, in its judgment, state appropriations to higher education, 
for the present at least, may legitimately and properly be based. That principle 
measures the state's duty and obligation to higher education by the specific and 
needed service it performs for the state. The only question, therefore, material 
here, is: Does the College of Medicine perform such a service? That its service — 
the training of physicians and surgeons — is specific, is unquestionable. Whether 
it is needed by the state is to be determined by the service rendered and likely to 
be rendered, and the cost thereof. 

There is one standard only governing the practice of medicine and surgery, 
eflBciency, and that standard is uniform in all states. In recommending a state 
appropriation for the support of a school of pedagogy in Middlebury College the 



120 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

Commission is influenced thereto by the fact that those who are to teach the 
youth of Vermont can do more efficient work when prepared therefor in the en- 
vironment in which they are to teach, and this, as pointed out in our discussion of 
the elementary and secondary schools, because environment is such an important 
element in instruction. The state needs teachers trained in the state. She needs 
the best and the highest trained physicians and surgeons; but unlike teachers, that 
they receive their training in Vermont is of no importance in determining their 
qualifications to practice here. 

This uniformity of standard is well shown by the work of the American Medical 
Association. This body "representing the organized medical profession of this 
countrj', was organized in 1846 for the express purpose of improving medical 
education." In 1904 the governing body of the association created a permanent 
committee, the Council on Medical Education, whose function was "to collect and 
publish reliable information regarding medical education, and to do what it could 
to secure the adoption of better educational standards." Through the work of the 
council, an "ideal standard" of entrance requirements to medical schools was fixed, 
a standard that included the requirement of one year of work de\oted to college 
courses in physics, chemistry and biology, in addition to the completion of a standard 
four-year high school course. Medical institutions meeting this requirement are 
rated by the association as Class A, and the Commission understands that medical 
schools of a still higher rank, having an entrance requirement of two years of college 
work, are rated by the association as Class A+. In 1900, only two medical schools 
required any preliminary training beyond a high school course; and this require- 
ment was largely nominal. Through the work of the association, however, the 
number of medical schools has been reduced since 1906 from 162 to 106, 31 of which 
are in Class A+ and 21 in Class A. Extended mention of this work of the American 
Medical Association is here made because there have been current suggestions of a 
nation-wide conspiracy having for its object the elimination of the smaller medical 
schools — the establishment of a trust in medical education — a criticism levelled in 
some degree at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, due 
doubtless to the fact that at the time the American Medical Association published 
its second classification in 1910, the Carnegie Foundation published its report on 
medical education in the United States and Canada. The conspiracy— if that be 
a proper term — is one of good. Of this work the United States Commissioner of 
Education, in his report for 1913, of which volume I is just received, says, "As may 
be surmised, the marked reduction in the number of medical colleges has not been 
to the detriment of medical education but has been to its advantage; it has not 
lessened the opportunities for students to study medicine, but has provided them 
with greater opportunities in better-equipped colleges." The College of Medicine 
itself makes no complaint of this so-called conspiracy. Rather it has voluntarily 
adopted the standards set up by the American Medical Association, for in the fall 
of 1912, the Vermont institution raised its entrance requirements to those of Class A. 



COLLEGE OF MEDICINE 121 

Throughout the state, in ahiiost every city and village, graduates of the Univer- 
sity of Vermont College of Medicine by efficient practice of their profession give 
testimony to the good training received by them at that institution. It is but 
natural that they should champion the continued existence of their professional 
Alma. Mater. The question before this Commission, however, is not one of senti- 
ment but of justice. It has been urged that without the College of Medicine there 
will be no source to supply competent practitioners for the state. The experience 
of other states, however, that are without medical schools and that are nevertheless 
adequately served in this respect, deprives this argument of any force. As well 
might it be said that Vermont's churches must close their doors for want of clergy- 
men because the state has no school of theology, or that the laws of the state can 
not be properly interpreted and the rights of her people thereunder protected, 
without a school of law. 

Granting, however, that the service rendered to the state by the College of 
Medicine is of a character to justify the state in sustaining it by appropriation of 
the public money, the question then becomes a relative one, namely. Should the 
state continue to grant a subsidy to the College of Medicine at Burlington — a grant 
in no way related to the state's policy of public instruction — and fail to meet fully 
its consitutional obligation to furnish to all the youth of the state an adequate pre- 
paration for everyday life? In 1909 the state appropriated to the College of 
Medicine, $10,000, and this appropriation was increased for the year 1913 tp 
$23,500. The admissions declined from 55 in 1909 to 40 in 1911, and in 1912, when 
the new entrance requirements, by which the college entered Class A, were adopted, 
only 12 students were admitted, of which only 3 were from Vermont. In the enter- 
ing class of 1913 of 18, 8 were from Vermont. The report of the Carnegie Founda- 
tion refers this decline in student attendance to the increased entrance require- 
ments voluntarily and rightly adopted by the college. The result, however, indi- 
cates that if the college is to maintain a proper standing among medical institutions, 
it does not offer sufficient inducement to attract students in numbers sufficient to 
warrant its continuance by state support or otherwise. Indeed, the dean of the 
institution has been frank to say that in order to maintain the standing of the 
College of Medicine, enlarged clinical facilities must be had. 

Respecting this matter, the United States Commissioner of Education in his 
report referred to, says "Another marked development in medical education is the 
provision for more adequate clinical facilities by a larger number of medical colleges, 
either through securing hospitals both owned and controlled by the medical school 
or through contract relationships with large ho.spitals whereby the medical college 
has been given more liberal control of the clinical facilities. This is an exceedingly 
important matter in medical education. If young physicians are to go forth prop- 
erly qualified to recognize and treat the various complex disorders that affect 
mankind, it is necessary that during their medical course they have the opportunity, 
under proper supervision, to study sick patients at the bedside in the hospital." 



122 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

In an address before the Merchants' Association, in Burlington, on March 10, 1914, 
Dean Henry C. Tinkham referred particularly to the inadequate clinical facilities 
of the College of Medicine. He said in substance that there should be hospital 
facilities aggregating 200 beds, or 100 beds in addition to those now available; and 
that this need could be met in two ways : either by additions to the Mary Fletcher 
and Fanny Allen hospitals, or by the college itself erecting a hospital. Doctor 
Tinkham regards the first plan as the more feasible one and believes that it could 
be carried out at a cost of about $50,000 or $75,000. His conclusion is squarely 
in agreement with that reached by the Carnegie Foundation in its report, which 
says, "Somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000 will be needed to conduct in Bur- 
lington a school upon a university basis and capable of giving a medical education 
adequate to the demands of present-day teaching." Of this money, Doctor Tink- 
ham believes that the state should appropriate something less than $50,000, but 
more than its present appropriation of $23,500. The urgency of this need of in- 
creased appropriations by the state is apparent from Dean Tinkham's statement 
that unless the conditions in the College of Medicine, particularly in regard to 
hospital facilities, are improved by February of next year — at the biennial rating 
of medical schools by the American Medical Association — the institution will be 
reduced in rating to Class B. 

In brief, the head of the College of Medicine frankly announces that unless 
the state immediately increases its appropriation, the institution will be lacking in 
those facilities required by institutions of the rank now held by it and necessarily 
attract fewer students than now. This Commission, in the performance of its duty 
toward the elementary and the secondary schools of the state, has been compelled 
to recommend the withdrawal of existing state appropriations to higher education 
in general. How, then, can it be reasonably expected that the state should not 
only continue, but also increase, its present appropriation to an institution not 
situated to perform any specific service for the state more than other institutions 
in providing education, not of a character beneficial to a general student body, 
but to a few students seeking special professional training.-' 



X 

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 

MiDDLEBURY College is a private institution, chartered under the name of The 
President and Fellows of Middlebury College. In 1908 the legislature appropriated 
to that college $8,400, of which $6,000 annually was "for the establishment and 
maintenance of a department of pedagogy for the education and training of high 
school teachers in said institution." It was provided by the same Act that the 
fellows of the college should make an annual report to the governor of the work 
done in behalf of the department of pedagogy, together with a statement in detail 
of all expenditures made in its promotion. In 1910 the legislature appropriated 
to that college $16,000, of which $13,600 annually was "for the establishment and 
maintenance of a department of pedagogy for the education and training of high 
school teachers in said institution, and to provide instruction in forestry and other 
subjects relating to the industries of Vermont." In 1912 the legislature appro- 
priated to that college $12,800, of which $10,400 "shall be annually expended by 
such institution in providing instruction in subjects essential for students prepar- 
ing to teach in Vermont high schools and academies." 

It has been urged before this Commission by the President and Fellows of 
Middlebury College that the department of pedagogy should be continued for the 
training of high school teachers, so that the high schools may be supplied largely 
with teachers who have received such special training in the state, and consequently 
that state aid should be given. We have already recommended teacher-training 
classes in selected high schools to meet the demand for well-trained teachers in 
the elementary schools. We discuss above the importance of having teachers in 
the high schools specially qualified to give instruction along the lines of agricul- 
tural training, and make recommendations looking to the training of such teachers 
by the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College. It is also essential 
to efficient work in the high schools and to satisfactory results, that professionally 
trained teachers be had for the work, other than that pertaining more particularly 
to agriculture, to the end that the whole problem of secondary instruction may be 
solved in a manner most for the public good. There seems to be no lack of appli- 
cants for positions as teachers in the secondary schools. But is the state reasonably 
sure of obtaining teachers of the efficiency necessary for the class of work desired 
unless the state interests herself in the training of such teachers? Other things 
equal, a teacher professionally trained in the state's atmosphere, conscious of, 
and in sympathy with, the lives and needs of the state's youth is better equipped 
for educational work in the state's secondary schools than a teacher from without 
the state, not imbued with the spirit of success according to the state's needs and 
progressive educational aim. It is said by President A. Lawrence Lowell of 
Harvard University, in his work on The Government of England, Vol. 2, page 329, 
"The growing interest in secondary education gave rise to another royal commis- 



124 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 

sion, appointed in 1894, with Mr. (James) Bryce (author of the American Common- 
wealth) at its head. Like its predecessor thirty years before, it made an elaborate 
inquiry, and added one more to the great reports on English education." And on 
page 338, note 3, the author, referring to that commission, says, "The lack of pro- 
fessionally trained teachers for the secondary schools themselves was one of the 
matters on which the commission of 1894 laid stress." 

In the report of the Carnegie Foundation, page 11, it is said: 

"It may be added that the teachers necessary for the secondary schools are 
already supplied in sufficient numbers by the colleges, but the examination that 
has been made shows that the quality of these teachers, so far as their knowledge of 
theoretical and practical teaching is concerned, leaves much to be desired. It 
is clear that if the colleges are to supply a teacher equal to the work of the secondary 
school, they must give these teachers a far more practical training in teaching than 
has hitherto been the case." 

The United States Commissioner of Education (in his report, page 25, for the 
year ending June 30, 1913, of which volume I only is out), states that "The State 
of Rhode Island, through its legislature, has entered into cooperation with Brown 
University for the professional education of college graduates desiring to prepare 
for positions as high-school teachers or principals." 

A course not materially unlike the one here recommended, has been pursued 
in England, for substantially the same purpose. Thus President Lowell (in his 
work on the Government of England, Vol. 2, page 350), speaking concerning public 
aid to provincial universities and universitj' colleges, says, "The grants from the 
national government are given partly by the Education Department, on account 
of scientific courses and the training of teachers; sometimes partly by the Agricul- 
tural Department also, on account of instruction in farming; * * * " 

Should the public schools be reorganized as recommended in this report, more 
high-school teachers will be needed in this state than ever before. 

The Commission is therefore of the opinion, that it is for the special interest 
of the state to have teachers of this class professionally trained in the state for 
work in the secondary schools, and that to this end, the department of pedagogy 
at Middlebury should be continued; that this should be done in such a manner as 
to make it, to all intents and purposes though not in law, a state department; that 
the state board of education should be authorized by law to make arrangements with 
Middlebury College for that purpose on reasonable terms and conditions, to the 
extent necessary to fulfil the purpose of the law in such behalf, all under the super- 
vision and control of said board, without duplication as discussed in the chapter 
on Duplication. The work of the department of pedagogy, limited as above 
indicated, being for the special interest of the state, appropriations should be made 
to enable the state board of education to carry out, in spirit and meaning, the 
arrangements made by said board in this respect. 



XI 
NORWICH UNIVERSITY 

Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge and was 
chartered by the legislature in 1834. Captain Partridge was a former superin- 
tendent of West Point and instruction in military science seems not only to have 
been the fundamental purpose of the establishment of this institution but has ever 
since remained its controlling influence. Here things military are not an incident 
to the collegiate work: they are the principal; and while a measure of instruction 
in military science is undoubtedly of value to the youth by way of inculcating due 
regard for authority, the measure of militarism that pervades the curriculum at 
Norwich University goes far beyond any reasonable requirements in that respect. 
The military training given at Norwich University is of a class second only to that 
given at West Point. The Commission is informed that actually more time is 
devoted to things military at Norwich than at West Point, a singular fact since 
the avowed purpose of training at West Point is the preparation of young men for 
the profession of arms while that of Norwich is the preparation of young men for 
civil life with opportunities for a select few to enter military life. 

In the military training given, Norwich is ranked by the government as a "dis- 
tinguished" institution. As an institution of higher learning, aside from the military 
instruction given, it is, so far as the evidence before the Commission discloses, an 
institution of no special distinction and inferior in educational facilities to the 
state's other institutions of higher learning. Norwich University has sent forth 
into life men who have made history in the army and in the navy of the country, 
and in civil life. Its record is a proud one. But these things alone do not warrant 
the Commission in extending to it particular consideration, for the same is true of 
the state's other institutions of higher learning. What is there, then, respecting 
Norwich University that entitles it to state assistance? 

The Commission is firmly convinced, and throughout this report has frequently 
announced, that there is one rule only by which the duty and obligation of the state 
to institutions of higher learning can be measured, that is, that until the state's 
elementary and secondary schools are placed upon a firm foundation with a system 
reorganized and amply maintained in accordance with the recommendations herein 
made, no duty or obligation rests upon the state to assist institutions of higher 
learning other than such assistance as may naturally result from the performance 
by such institutions of some specific work for the state and required by the state 
in the carrying out of its policy for the proper development and maintenance of its 
elementary and secondary schools. 

Measured by this rule, by what does Norwich University justify its claim for 
assistance by the state? The notable record of the institution, and of its many 
illustrious graduates, is a source of just pride to every Vermonter. It is gratifying 
to know that the state has within her borders a military school, one of a class of 



126 NORWICH UNIVERSITY 

16 institutions throughout the country ranking not far below West Point. But 
in these days of peace, when there is an urgent need for unhmited state support of 
the common schools, whereby every boy and girl may receive the best possible 
equipment to meet the ordinary duties and responsibilities of life, where is the 
justification for lending support to an institution whose principal work is training 
for the profession of arms? 

The state has been increasingly generous to this institution for more than half a 
century. In 1852 it received a liberal portion of the school fund; in 1884 the legis- 
lature appropriated $1,500 annually, to be used in the payment of tuitions and room 
rent of thirty cadets, this appropriation being raised in 1892 to $2,400 annually; 
in 1898 the amount was further increased to $6,000, of which $3,600 per year was 
given "for carrying out the provisions and purposes of the charter;" in 1904 the 
appropriation was again raised to $11,000, the sum of $5,000 being granted for the 
period of ten years "to increase the efficiency of the engineering department;" in 
1913 the legislature amended the scholarship provisions of 1892 and 1904, confirmed 
the annual appropriation of $11,000, and increased the aggregate appropriation by 
$9,000 annually for the term of two years, making a total of $20,000 per annum, all 
of which, except $2,400 for scholarships, was given "to be expended in carrying out 
the provisions of the charter of said institution." This increase in appropriations, 
it is apparent, is one manifestation of the tendency which has developed in recent 
years respecting all the institutions of higher learning within the state; and it is to 
be particularly noticed that by such appropriations the state has not undertaken 
specifically to aid the development of military instruction at the institution, and 
that the increase made has been in duplication of educational effort, a matter 
specifically submitted to this Commission for investigation and obviation. It is 
true that Norwich University has been called by the legislature the Military College 
of the State of Vermont but, as pointed out in our discussion of the claim of the 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, that the legislative declara- 
tion that it was a state institution made it such, the legislative recognition of 
Norwich University as the military college of the state did not make it a state 
institution, that is, a public corporation, nor in any wise affect the duty or the 
obligation of the state respecting it. 

The Commission might well repeat what is said in the report of the Carnegie 
Foundation respecting the inadequate facilities of Norwich University for education 
in engineering and the small and decreasing per cent of Vermont students attending 
it — a decrease from 77% in 1902-3 to 42% in 1912-13. These matters, however, 
are fully treated in that report and, in the judgment of the Commission, furnish 
such evidence as would create a grave doubt in the mind of the Commission respect- 
ing state aid to the institution even though the work performed by it were of a 
character justifying state support by the rule above referred to. 

Sentiment and personal inclination may advocate continued financial support by 
the state of an institution whose record in its particular field of work has been as 



NORWICH UNIVERSITY 127 

creditable as that of Norwich University. A proper regard, however, for the entire 
educational system and conditions of the state — and that is the scope of the matters 
submitted to the determination of this Commission — compels the conclusion that 
the educational conditions of Vermont, respecting the elementary and the secondary 
schools, require a recommendation from this Commission withdrawing state appro- 
priations from Norwich University. On any fair and just view of the rights, duties 
and obligations of that institution and of the duty and obligation of the state to it, 
the Commission is unable to escape the following conclusion reached by the Carnegie 
Foundation: "That the State of Vermont should tax itself to support a school 
whose facilities for engineering are so meager, whose chief function is military 
instruction, the majority of whose students are drawn from outside the state, is a 
use of money that can not be defended upon any educational grounds, or upon the 
grounds of the state's duty to the system of elementary and secondary schools." 



XII 
DUPLICATION 

By the joint resolution creating it, this Commission is required to make such 
recommendations respecting the state's institutions of higher learning "as will 
prevent unnecessary duplication and consequent financial waste." In a narrow 
sense the performance of this duty may be said to relate only to duplication of work 
supported by state subsidies. In a larger and truer sense, however, the duplication 
referred to may relate to the entire activities of these institutions, although in some 
circumstances there may be duplication that is both necessary and justifiable. 

Time was — and not long ago — when competition was regarded as the most im- 
portant thing in any development. More recently, however, this notion has come 
to be thought only partly true. Efficiency of effort, whether prosecuted under 
competitive conditions or otherwise, is the end to be attained; and while competi- 
tion may make for efiiciency in business and mercantile activities, where success is 
measured in dollars and cents, in educational effort it breeds an unwholesome 
rivalry destructive of efficiency, which is there measured by the degree of attain- 
ment to an ideal. 

As already pointed out, the state is justified in aiding institutions of higher 
learning only for value received in the performance for the state of some distinctive 
service. Institutional rivalry, however, may so far inevitably affect the character 
of that service that the state should not assist any institution competing therein. 
In return for aid by the state, the institution aided does not meet its obligation in 
the performance merely of the distinctive service by which the assistance given is 
justified. Plain principles of justice and fair dealing impose upon that institution 
the duty to refrain from activities naturally tending to make ineffective the state- 
aided work of other institutions. 

The history of recent state appropriations to higher learning shows that out of 
institutional rivalry has grown duplication of effort. By No. 50, Acts of 1908, 
$16,000 was annually appropriated to the University of Vermont and State Agri- 
cultural College, $3,600 of which should be expended "in providing instruction in 
branches relating to the industrial arts." By the same Act, $8,400 was annually 
appropriated to Middlebury College, $6,000 of which should be expended "for the 
establishment and maintenance of a department of pedagogy for the education and 
training of high school teachers." In 1910, however, by No. 75, Acts of 1910, the 
University of Vermont obtained an annual appropriation of $16,000, of which 
$13,600 should be expended, among other things including branches relating to the 
industrial sciences, "in providing instruction in the principles and methods of 
teaching;" and Middlebury College obtained an annual appropriation of $16,000, 
of which $13,600 should be expended, in addition to the purpose of establishing and 
maintaining a department of pedagogy as provided in the Act of 1908, for the 
further purpose of providing "instruction in forestry and other subjects related to 



DUPLICATION 129 

the industries of Vermont"- — a provision broad enough to include every department 
of agricultural education. By the legislation of 1908, the state was definitely 
assisting the University of Vermont in providing instruction in branches relating to 
the industrial arts, yet in 1910 Middlebury College received an appropriation for 
instruction in forestry and other subjects related to the state's industries. On the 
other hand, in 1908, the state definitely assisted Middlebury College to establish 
and maintain a department of pedagogy for a distinctive service to the state, namely, 
the education and training of high school teachers, yet in 1910 the University of 
Vermont obtained an appropriation to be expended in providing instruction in the 
principles and methods of teaching. 

The legislature of 1912, by an Act passed February 15, 1913 (No. 83, Acts of 
1912), in appropriating money to the state's institutions of higher learning, to some 
extent avoided duplication, no doubt because the matter of "unnecessary duplica- 
tion" was specifically mentioned in the joint resolution creating this Commission, 
previously enacted. The sum of $26,300 was appropriated to the University of 
Vermont and State Agricultural College. Of this appropriation, $13,500 was "for 
the exclusive use of the College of Medicine," $4,800 was "for the exclusive use of 
the College of Agriculture" in the payment of tuition charges of Vermont students, 
and $8,000 was "for the exclusive use of the College of Agriculture" to be expended 
solely for work in agricultural extension. The sum of $12,800 was appropriated 
to Middlebury College, of which $2,400 was allotted to the payment of tuition 
charges, and $10,400 in "providing instruction in subjects essential for students 
preparing to teach in Vermont high schools and academies." The sum of $20,000 
was appropriated to Norwich University to be used "in carrying out the provisions 
of the charter of said institution through the payment of salaries of its instructional 
force and suitably providing for additions to and for the maintenance of laboratories 
and equipment for its work in engineering, in the natural sciences and in physical 
culture." Yet in these appropriations, it appears that the state is giving Norwich 
University extensive assistance in its engineering work and at the same time is 
sustaining the work in engineering at the University of Vermont through the Federal 
appropriations allotted to that institution by state legislation. 

Every institution of learning in the liberal arts necessarily ofi'ers courses more or 
less alike, for example, courses in the languages, mathematics, and the natural, 
physical and economic sciences. To style this as unnecessary duplication would 
amount to saying that all but one of such institutions have no reason for existence — 
a matter to be determined only by time and their own internal development. The 
Commission construes "unnecessary duplication" to mean competitive effort in 
technical education in the arts, sciences or professions; and technical education is 
none the less such although offered as "the stimulus to liberal thought and service- 
able effort that is so necessary to true culture and to useful living." 

The "Middlebury College Bulletin" for July, 1914, is devoted to an exposition 
of its Department of Engineering. It announces that two classes, at least, of its 



130 DUPLICATION 

students demand certain courses in engineering : those who intend to pursue a tech- 
nical education beyond college and those who need such courses for cultural pur- 
poses. The engineering courses offered to meet this alleged demand are, in the 
opinion of the Commission, a clear illustration of unnecessary duplication. Through 
state legislation the Federal appropriations to land-grant colleges have, in Vermont, 
tor many years been allotted to the University of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College, whereby there has been developed at Burlington a school of civil, mechani- 
cal and electrical engineering which "in the character of the instruction and the 
opportunity for laboratory work * * * compares well with similar schools of 
engineering in other institutions." The Bulletin says respecting the engineering 
department at Middlebury College: 

"Such a department does not purport to be, and it should not be misunderstood 
to attempt the work of, a technical institution or an advanced school of engineering, 
nor does it assume the character of a college of engineering in a university." And 
yet the value of its courses in a purely technical education is advocated by the 
announcement that their graduates "may enter the Junior year of the best technical 
schools without examination," an arrangement already concluded by Middlebury 
College with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute and Cornell University. In other words this department, which does not 
purport to be, and should not be misunderstood to attempt the work of, a technical 
institution, furnishes its students an education equivalent to that given in the first 
two years of the foremost technical schools in this part of the country. The train- 
ing offered is clearly that of a technical institution and just as clearly a duplication 
of the training given at Burlington. It is suggested, however, that duplication can 
not be predicated upon the state's use of the Federal appropriations, on the ground 
that such appropriations are not the property of the state but of the institution 
receiving them, and that the state is a channel merely through which the Federal 
aid flows. Such a position is untenable. Although the state holos these funds in 
trust for the purposes named in the Acts of Congress, it nevertheless owns them. 
The Supreme Court of the United States in State of Wyoming, e.x rel. Wyoming 
Agricultural College et al. v. Irvine, Treasurer of the State of Wyoming, 206 U. S. 
278, 51 L. ed. 1063, says it is obvious that these appro])riations are made to the 
state, and not to any institutions within the state, and that both the fund and its 
interest and the annual appropriations are the property of the state, and not of any 
institution within it. 

As long as Middlebury College, by such duplication, engages in a competition 
with the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College in technical educa- 
tion in the mechanic arts, the Commission believes that such competition may 
engender a spirit of institutional rivalry that will make inadvisable the education 
there, at public expense, of the state's secondary-school teachers, for the School of 
Pedagogy in Middlebury College (discussed elsewhere in this report), even though 
safeguarded by a close state administration and control, may become so far imbued 



DUPLICATION 131 

with such a spirit as to place its graduates, through their prestige and influence, in 
command of the secondary schools of the state. Nor should Middlebury College 
continue its courses in those branches of instruction peculiarly appropriate to educa- 
tion in agriculture, specially the province of the State Agricultural School at 
Randolph and of the State Agricultural College in the use of the Federal appropria- 
tions. The United States Bureau of Education has made the following classification 
of subjects to be included in instruction in agriculture: (1) Agriculture; (2) Horti- 
culture; (3) Forestry; (4) Agronomy; (5) Animal husbandry; (6) Dairying; (7) 
Veterinary science; (8) Poultry industry; (9) Apiculture. 

If the state is to support courses of instruction for training teachers of agriculture 
in the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, as elsewhere recom- 
mended, that institution by parity of reasoning should not unjustifiably continue its 
courses in pedagogy in competition with Middlebury College. 

Inasmuch as many forms of duplication are wholly justifiable and necessary, and 
inasmuch as forms of duplication that are injurious and, therefore, undesirable can 
sometimes be fairly determined only as the concrete occasion arises, it is only just 
to the state that no institution receiving aid from the state by way of funds owned 
by it, either absolutely or in trust, shall undertake work in aid of which such funds 
are elsewhere being provided, without the knowledge and the full concurrence of the 
board of education. 

These institutions should not be rivals, but co-workers, each doing its own general 
work in cultural education and non-competing work in technical education. 



XIII 
THE STATE AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

It is made the duty of the Commission to inquire into and determine the several 
rights, duties, and obligations of the three colleges in the state, and to report thereon 
with such recommendations as will prevent unnecessary duplication and consequent 
financial waste. Further than is necessary to the proper performance of this duty, 
the Commission does not consider it within its province to discuss the question of 
higher education nor the question of colleges of art, large or small. It wishes to con- 
fine its function to the public educational system and conditions of the state, and 
to the reorganization of the public elementary and secondary schools in such a 
manner as to result in the establishment of an efficient and comprehensive system of 
elementary and secondary education for the state, and the means of providing 
efficient, competent, and a sufficient number of teachers for these schools. Its 
recommendations are intended to cover this, and also to cover, directly or indirectly, 
the use of money owned by the state either absolutely or in trust, so far as it is 
applied by, appropriated to or to the use of, existing colleges, private in character. 
As to the other work of the colleges, the Commission recommends restrictions only 
so far as may be reasonably necessary to prevent imjust interference with the use of 
such state moneys. 

From what has been said, it is seen that the Commission bases its recommen- 
dations for state aid to institutions of higher learning upon the fact that some special 
benefit is to be derived by the state in connection with the efficient operation and 
administration of its public schools, in so doing. The state has made the mainte- 
nance of public schools a provision in its Constitution. From the foundation of the 
state, it has been a steady and governing principle that it was the right and duty 
of government to provide, at public expense, for the instruction of all the youth in 
common schools. No such duty is imposed upon the state respecting higher edu- 
cation, nor respecting instructions in institutions of higher learning, not a part 
of the public school system. Though appropriations may be and are often made 
by the legislature in aid of such institutions, yet such an appropriation is a gift of 
the sum appropriated. It is a common saying based upon much good sense, that 
"a man should be just before he is generous." This applies as well to the state 
regarding such appropriations. It should require no argument to convince any 
person of fair mind that the first and all important duty of the state is to perform 
its full obligation to the common schools before giving money to any institution 
of higher learning — justice to the youth of the state, as well as the public welfare, 
demand it. This same principle was stated and endorsed with emphasis by the 
president of Middlebury College and also by one of the prominent fellows of that 
institution at a hearing before this Commission. Thus President Thomas said: 

"I accept further the principle that the primary and supreme duty of the State in 
educational matters is to its elementary and secondary schools. The education of the 



HIGHER EDUCATION 133 

mass of the people must always be the first concern of the people. Money that is 
needed for efiicient administration of a State educational system and for proper 
stimulation of local support of both elementary and secondary schools should not 
be diverted to higher education. The college must not be a competitor for resources 
that are needed by the little children of Vermont. The proposition to expend 
upon higher education what is justly required for the lower schools is not only 
unjustifiable morally and from the standpoint of public policy, but it is against 
the interest of the college itself, since the college can flourish only on the foundation 
of efficient general education and broad public prosperity." 

Honorable Frank C. Partridge, Fellow of Middlebury College, when delivering 
an address before the Commission on the same occasion, being asked by the chair- 
man of the Commission whether he stood with President Thomas as to the state's 
first duty being to the elementary and the secondary schools, answered: 

"I have had no question about that. 1 will go further, I think the duty first 
is the primary schools. I think if you want to analyze it thoroughly, you must 
determine first if you have any money left after that for the secondary schools, 
and after that I think you must determine whether there is any money left for any- 
thing else. The lower down you are in the educational field, the more you must 
look after it. You won't have any secondary schools without primary schools." 

It is said, however, in behalf of all three of the institutions of higher learning, 
that in other states of the Union private institutions of higher learning receive aid 
from the state and hence there is no good reason why the colleges in Vermont should 
not receive aid from the state; indeed that the state should continue to treat the 
colleges within her borders the same as similar institutions are treated in other 
states. By reason of this argument the Commission has taken pains to ascertain 
what is being done in this respect in each of the New England states, also in New 
York, and we present in connection herewith the following tabulated statement 
showing the total assessed valuation and the appropriations for higher education 
with the percentage computed in each of the states named: 

State Total Assessed Appropriations for Percentage 

Valuation Higher Education 

Vt. $ 222,989,343 $ 52,300.00 Univ. Vt. .00044 

(1913) 28,800.00 Mid'y Coll. 

20,000.00 Norw. Univ. 



$100,100.00 (1913-14) 

ConB. 948,339,019 $ 145,787.05 St. Agric. Coll. .000153 

(1911) (1912-13) 

Me. 430,025,462 $ 115,000.00 Univ. Me. 

(1912-13) (1912) .000267 



134 



HIGHER EDUCATION 



Mass. 



N.H. 



R.I. 



N.Y. 



5,479,279.693 

(1912) (for 
10 yrs. only) 



398,714,464 
(1912-13) 



618,834,569 

(1912) 

11,131,778,919 

(1913) 



146,800.00 Agric. Coll. 
100,000.00 Ma.ss. Inst. Tech. 
50,000.00 Wore. Polyt. Inst. 



$ 296,800.00 (1912-13) 

$ 20,000.00 Dart. Coll. 
20,544.88 Agri. Coll. 



$ 40,544.88 (1912-13) 

$ 29,889.63 Agri. Coll. 
(1911-12) 

$ 943,428.80 Corn. Univ. (Agrie.) 

70,000.00 Corn. Univ. (Vet.) 

71.000.00 Alfred Univ. (Agric. & Ceramics) 

42,572.15 St. Law. Univ. (Agric.) 

300,000.00 Syr. Univ. (Forestry) 



.0000542 



.000101 



.0000483 



.0000128 



$1,427,000.95 (1912-13)* 

The percentages are only approximate since it is, in general, almost impossible 
to obtain figures for valuations and appropriations in the same year. 

The above tabulated statement of appropriations is believed to include all 
sums appropriated to colleges in the states named, whether the institutions are 
in character public or private, and whether under state control or otherwise. In so 
far, however, as these institutions are public in character and entitled of right to 
state support, or are under state control, the per cent of Vermont's appropriations, 
as compared with appropriations to the private institutions of the other states, 
is materially increased. That a better understanding of the relative per cent 
appropriated by these states may be had, the Commission has caused the following 
chart to be made, showing the size of per cent appropriated by Vermont as com- 
pared with the per cent appropriated by each one of the other states named. It 
is hardly necessary to say in this connection that the appropriation made by a 
state, when compared with appropriations made by other states, is to be adjudged 
upon the basis of the assessed valuation of the states in which the compared appro- 
priations were made. No other compari-son would be fair. What would be a large 
appropriation for a state of small assessed valuation might be a mere pittance for 
a state of large assessed valuation, or, to state it in another way, a small appro- 
priation in per cent of a state of large valuation, might amount to a sum so large 
as to be beyond anything that could possibly be expected from a state of small 
valuation. Referring to the chart and to the per cent given by each state, marked 
thereon, it will be seen that Vermont is appropriating nearly 1.7 times the per 

•From January 1914 from $75,000 to $300,000 is appropriated annually for scholarships. 



.00005^ 
.0000483 ■ 

i I I 






N. Y. N. J. Mass. N. H. Conn. Maine Vt. 



136 HIGHER EDUCATION 

cent appropriated by Maine, nearly three times the per cent appropriated by 
Connecticut, more than four times the per cent appropriated by New Hampshire, 
more than eight times the per cent appropriated by Massachusetts, more than 
nine times the per cent appropriated by Rhode Island, and more than thirty-four 
times the per cent appropriated by New York in 1912-13. If we add to $1,427,- 
000.95, the sum appropriated in those years, $300,000, the greatest sum appropria- 
ted annually for scholarships from January, 1914, it makes total appropriations 
from January, 1914, $1,727,000.95. Computing the per cent this sum is of the 
assessed valuation given for 1913 (and saying nothing about any increase in assessed 
valuation for the year 1914), it gives .0000155, and the per cent appropriated by 
Vermont is still more than twenty-eight times the per cent now being appropriated 
by New York. 

With this information in hand together with the knowledge we have concern- 
ing the elementary and secondary schools, can there be any reasonable doubt that 
the institutions of higher learning in this state have been and are receiving more 
by way of appropriations from the state than in justice to the elementary and the 
secondary .schools they ought to ask or receive? Without discussing the question 
as to whether appropriations to such institutions without state control can or can 
not be reasonably justified, they can not be reasonably justified to an extent which 
is to the injury of those schools established and maintained for the benefit of all of 
the people of the state. The Commission can not urge too strongly the importance 
to the public-school children of the state, and consequently the importance to the 
general welfare of the state, that no appropriations, by way of scholarships or 
otherwise, be made by the state to the colleges until the elementary and the secon- 
dary schools are established and in efficient operation throughout the state, in 
conformity to the recommendations contained in this report. When these public 
schools are so established and in efficient operation, if it he then a state policy that 
state appropriations to private institutions of higher learning are, without state 
control, reasonably justified — a matter not now requiring consideration — , we 
may fairly assume that serious objection will not be made to such appropriations 
to a percentage of the assessed valuation of property in the state, in keeping with 
the amount of the appropriations made to similar institutions in other states with 
which comparisons may fairly be made. It should be added, however, that even 
then there should be no appropriations in the form of scholarships as now assigned. 
The Commission believes that such scholarships are so objectionable in their 
tendencies as to leave nothing substantial in their favor. There may be some 
question as to the advisability of ever making appropriations by way of scholar- 
ships, but if so made the assignment of scholarships should be under the control 
of the board of education and based upon merit and pecuniary need. Very likely 
in any event justice to the colleges may require that all state aid be not cut off at 
once, but rather that reasonable opportunity be allowed them in which to arrange 
their budgets. 



XIV 
FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS 

I. History of State School Funds 

By a law passed November 17, 1825, "the amount of the avails accrued to this 
state by the late Vermont State Bank, the amount of this state's funds accruing 
from the six per cent on the net profits of the respective banks chartered by this 
state" and the amount received "from licences to peddlars" were "sequestered and 
granted to the respective towns in the State, for the benefit of the common schools 
and to no other purpose." It was further enacted that "the accumulating school 
fund contemplated shall not be diminished, improved or appropriated to the use 
of schools, until the amount of principal of said fund shall increase to a sum suffi- 
cient to yield an annual profit and interest adequate to defray the current expenses 
of keeping a good, free, common school in each district in the respective towns, 
for the period of two months in each and every year." 

These funds were at first invested in productive securities, but, in 1833, further 
loaning was prohibited by the General Assembly. Interest was allowed on the 
fund and it was "considered as borrowed from the fund" so that on September 
10, 1845, the principal and interest amounted to $234,900.44. On November 5, 
of the same year, it was covered into the state treasury. In 1832, provision was 
made for a new capitol building and work on the same was commenced and com- 
pleted in 1838. For the construction of this building, the state borrowed from 
the state school fund $224,000. In 1841 the General Assembly passed a resolution 
to the effect that no part of the school fund should be loaned so long as "the State 
may be owing individuals or corporations." The state paid for its new capitol 
building by repudiating its debt to the school fund. 

From 1845 until 1890 the state had no school fund apart from the United States 
deposit money and the Huntington fund. 

At the session of 1890 the legislature enacted a law providing for the first state 
school tax of five cents on the dollar which was collected upon the list of the polls 
and ratable estate of the inhabitants of the state for the support of common schools 
and re-apportioned by the state treasurer among the towns, cities and unorganized 
towns and gores in proportion to the number of legal schools sustained. This tax 
was afterward increased to eight cents on the dollar, and from time to time the 
method of the re-apportionment has been changed. 

In 1906 the permanent school fund was created consisting of the sum of $240,000 
returned by the national government to the state in settlement of all Civil War 
claims, the Huntington fund, the United States deposit money and such other 
additions as were thereafter made to this fund; and the fund was to be held intact 
and in reserve as a public school fund. A board of trustees was created in whom 
was fixed the power of investment and the further power of receiving gifts, be- 
quests or additions to such permanent school fund. 



138 STATE SCHOOL FUNDS 

II. Appropriations and Distribution of Expense 

In the opinion of the Commission, state school funds should be appropriated as 
follows : 

1. For the purposes of equalizing school opportunities and the assessments 
for the maintenance of schools. 

2. For the purposes of paying all overhead, extraordinary and incidental ex- 
penses incurred in the maintenance of the school system. 

Neither the parent nor the town should be deprived of or relieved from partici- 
pating in the education of the child. A fair and equitable distribution of the 
expense of the child's education should be as follows: 

(a) The parent should feed, clothe and care for the child. 

(6) To a large degree, the town should furnish the school plant, provide for its 
equipment, maintenance and care, bear the expense of the wage of the teacher and 
of the cost of books, equipment and supplies. 

(c) The state should pay: 

1. For supervision, because the superintendents are the agents of the state in 
carrying out its educational policy. 

2. For the training of the teacher, because the several towns can not perform 
this service for themselves and because uniformity of training is desirable in order 
that there may be uniformity in the quality of the teaching. 

3. For medical inspection, because diseases and epidemics do not recognize town lines. 

4. For the transportation of the child, because this is an unusual and not a com- 
mon expense, .such as teaching and .supplies, though frequently necessary to school 
efficiency, and because it usuallj' falls most heavily upon the town the least able 
to bear the expense and is one of the features of school administration that can 
not be handled economically and satisfactorily by the town. 

5. For a portion of the net wage of the teacher, in order to insure the employ- 
ment of trained teachers, and to some degree equalize the expense thereof. This 
payment should be considered with reference to the net wage of the teacher because 
the gross wage involves the factor of board which \aries in Vermont from nothing 
to $6.00 per week. 

6. For a large portion of the cost of the emjiloyment of teachers for instruction 
in vocational subjects, because it is a matter of state concern that its inhabitants 
be self-supporting in life. 

7. For incidental expenses, such as supplies and equipment which the town can 
not adequately furnish itself. 

8. For the general means of education, such as educational meetings, summer 
schools, reports, statistics, courses of study, bulletins, circulars and manuals. 

9. For such portion of the expenses of the school .system as will enable the sev- 
eral towns to have schools that will, as nearly as possible, be uniform in quality, 
duration and expense. 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT i;«) 

In considering these several subjects the Commission recommends: 

1. That in lieu of the present eight per cent tax, a state tax of ten per cent be 
levied upon the grand list of the state for school purposes. 

2. That a direct appropriation be made from the state treasury of at least 
$450,000. 

3. That the income of the permanent school fund be used as now for the purposes 
of carrying out the educational system. 

These three funds brought together give substantially $750,000. The Com- 
mission further recommends that this sum be apportioned at present as follows: 

1. For general administration and office purposes, including 

expenses of the board of education, and the salaries and 
expenses of the executive officers of the board of educa- 
tion, $ 20,000 

2. For union supervision, 125,000 

3. For vocational education, 10,000 

4. For teacher training courses, 40,000 

5. For summer schools and educational meetings, 3,000 

6. For the transportation of pupils of all classes, 125,000 

7. For the instruction of secondary school teachers, 15,000 

8. For agricultural extension instruction, 15,000 

9. For medical inspection of schools, 7,000 

10. For advanced instruction in the several classes of high 

schools, 60,000 

11. For payment of teachers' wages, 100,000 

12. For equalizing opportunities and rates of expenditure, 230,000 

Some question may arise concerning the appropriation of so large a sum as 
$450,000, and it may very properly be stated that a large portion of this sum is 
already appropriated by the state from its general revenues and was paid during the 
fiscal year 1913-14, for the following purposes: 

Superintendent of Education and Board of Education, $ 9,135.71 

Normal schools, 20,000.00 

Union supervision, 63,350.00 

Manual training, 950.00 

Teacher training courses, 10,750.00 

Summer schools, 1,000.00 

Educational meetings, 594.71 

University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, 52,300.00 

Norwich University, 20,000.00 

Middlebury College, 28,800.00 

Transportation, year ending June 30, 1913, 20,000.00 

General appropriation, 50,000.00 



Making a total of $276,880.42 



140 APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENSE 

Thus the increase in the appropriation from the general funds of the state will be 
only $175,000. In return for this, the several towns, on the payment of an ad- 
ditional tax of two per cent of the grand list, will receive the benefits which they 
are already receiving, but these benefits will be increased twofold along the lines of 
supervision, trained teachers, teachers' wages, vocational education and transpor- 
tation, and, in addition to this, a fund of $230,000 will be in the hands of the board 
of education to aid in equalizing school opportunities and in the reduction of rates 
of expenditure in those towns where this aid at the present time is sorely needed. 

All of which is respectfully submitted this 17th day of July, A. D. 1914. 

John H. Watson 
Nicholas Murray Butler 
Theo. N. Vail 
Peecival W. Clement 
Horace F. Graham 
Frank H. Brooks 
Eli H. Porter 
James B. Estee 
Allison E. Tuttle 

CoTninissi(>)ierii. 
George L. Hunt 
Clerk. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Academies, as secondary schools, 28 
Administration : 

Agencies for, recommended, 7, 55. 

Commissioner of Education, 54. 

History of, 51. 

State Board of Education. 52-55. 

Supervisors, 49. 
Age: 

Pupils of junior high schools, 6, 29. 

Pupils of senior high schools, 6, 29. 

School advantages, no bar to, 40. 
Agricultural schools: 

Hearing at Burlington respecting. 4. 

Recommendation respecting, 41. 
Agriculture : 

Crops, comparative statistics of, 37. 

Experiment station, 95, 96. 

Extension work, 7, 40, 42, 96. 

Federal appropriations for, percent used, 109. 

Instruction in, what is, 131. 

Model farms, 40, 41. 

State Agricultural School, fimction of, 41, 42. 

Teachers, 7, 40, 118, 119. 

University of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College, function of, 11.5-117, 119. 

Use of Federal appropriations, 8, 91. 

Vermont an agricultural state. 17, 37, 39, 
114. 

Vocational education in, necessary, 37-40. 
American Medical Association, 120. 
Appropriations ; 

Agricultural extension, 7, 40, 96. 

Agricultural teachers, 40, 118. 

Apportionment of, for schools, 139. 

College of Medicine, 121. 

Colleges, 7, 30, 119. 125. 127, 128, 132. 

Duplication in, 128, 129. 

Federal, Act of 1862, conclusion respecting 
use of, 95. 

Federal, Act of 1890, conclusion respecting 
use of, 115. 

Federal, Act of 1907, conclusion respecting 
use of, 115. 

Federal, for agricultural extension, 40, 96. 

Federal, use of by University of Vermont and 
State Agricultural College, 8, 91 . 

Federal, use of. comparative percentages, 
111, 112. 



Institutions of higher learning, 7, 30, 119, 125, 

127, 128, 132. 
Middlebury College, 123, 124, 128, 129. 
Norwich University, 126, 129. 
School funds, recommendation respecting, 138 
State Agricultural School, 7, 41. 
State, control of, 54. 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural 

CoUege,7, 119, 128, 129. [l36. 

Vermont's, compared with other states, 133- 

UoAHD of Education: 

Appropriation for, 55. 

Appropriations, control of, 54. 

Duplication, duly respecting, 119, 124, 131. 

Health regulations, 54. 

Instruction outside town, 28. 

Membership, requisites of, 52. 

Powers and duties, 52-54. 

Re-organization of schools, 31. 

Scholarships, 136. 

Staff, 54. 

Teachers of agriculture, 119. 

Teachers for secondary schools, 7, 124. 

Term of office, 55. 
Budget of educational expenses, 54. 

CiARNEGiE Foundation for the Advancement 
of Teaching: 

Expert assistance by, 3. 

Men employed by, 2, 3. 

Methods of work, 3. 

Report to Commission, 3. 
Children : 

Attending elementaiy schools, 17. 

Attending secondary schools, 18, 22. 

Compulsory attendance, 27. 

Importance of, 17. [30. 

Not reached by secondary schools, 17, 23, 27, 
Classification of schools, 13-16, 21, 24, 25, 54. 
College of Medicine: 

Appropriations to, 121. 

Attendance, 121. 

Clinical facihties, 121, 122. 

Conclusion respecting, 122. 

Dean Tinkham's statement respecting, 122. 

Relation to University of Vermont and State 
Agricultural College. 119. 



11.4 



INDEX 



State's duty to, discussed, 119, lii. 

Standing of, 120-122. 

Supply of practitioners, unnecessary for. l!21. 
Colleges : 

Appropriations compared, Vermont and other 
states, 13a-136. 

Function of Commission respecting, 4, 122, 
132, 136. 

Relation of secondary schools to, 23, 30, 35, 
36. 

State's duty respectmg, 7, 30, 119, 125, 127, 
128, 132. 
Commercial subjects, 6, 7, 28, 4.2. 
Commissioner of Education: 

-Assistants for, 54, 55. 

Qualifications, 54, 55. 

Salary, 54, 55. 

Term of ofSce, 54. 
Compulsory attendance, 27. 
Consolidation of rural schools, 5, 19, 20. 
Constitution : 

Duties respecting schools imposed by, 5,9, 11, 
14, 15,30,31. 

Rights imder, how exercised, 15. 

Schools, parents' duty respecting, 30. 

Schools, state's duty respecting, 5, 9, 30, 50, 
51, 132. 

Vocational education, relation to, 35. 
County grammar .schools, 11, 34, 62, 73, 74. 
Course of study : 

Elementary schools. 18, 19. 

Riu-al schools, 5, 19, 20. 

Secondary schools, 22, 23, 25, 28, 29. 
Crops, comparative statistics of, 37. 
Curriculum: 

Elementary schools, 5, 18, 19, 20. 

Junior high schools, 6, 28, 29. 

Senior high schools, 6, 28, 29. 

State Agricidtural School, 41. 

Distribution of expense, 138 
Districts. Specially incorporated, 33. 
Domestic science, 6, 7, 28, 35, 42. 
Duplication : 

Board of Education, duty of, 119, 124, 131. 

Effect of, 128. 

Illustrated, 41, 43, 128, 129. 

Scope of, 128. 

Unnecessary, bar to state aid, 131. 

Unnecessary, what is, 129. 



Ji/Di'CATioNAi. Commission: 

Colleges, function of, respecting, 4, 122, 132, 
136. 

Conclusions of, not based wholly on Carnegie 
Report, 4. 

Expert assistance for, 2. 

Hearings before, 4. 

Higher education, function of, respecting. 
4, 116, 117, 122, 132. 136. 

Institutions visited, 4. 

Joint Resolution creating, 1. 

Organization of, 2. 

Purpose of report, 2, 4, 5, 9, 132. 

Work of, 3, 4, 43. 
Educational survey: 

Authorized by Commission, 2. 

Men engaged in, 2. 

Methods, 3. 

Report to Commission, 3. 
Elementary schools: 

Attendance, 17, 18. 

Curricula, 18, 19, 25, 26. 

Instruction in, purpose of, 18, 19. 

Location of, 14. 

Number required, 16. 

Place in the system, 9, 132, 133, 136. 

Rural schools, 5, 19, 20. 

Rural schools, consolidation of, 19, 20. 

School term, 31. 

Teachers, certification, 54. 

Teachers, number. 43. 

Teachers, salary, 47, 138. 

Teachers, tenure of position, 47. 
Emmigration, relation to schools, 36. 
Environment, relation to schools, 9, 16, 17, 19 , 

20, 23, 25, 36, 43. 
Equalization of expense, 30, 50, 51, 137, 140. 
Expense of schools: 

Equalization of, 30, 50, 51, 137, 140. 

Parents' duty respecting, 30, 138. 

Secondary consideration, 29, 30. 

State money, expenditure and control of, 54 . 
Experiment station, 95, 96, 116. 

Extension work in agriculture, 7, 40, 42, 96. 

r EDERAL appropriations: 

Agriculture, percent used for, 109. 
Approval of U. S. government respecting use, 
101,114. [llT 

Change in policy, respecting use, looked for. 



INDEX 



145 



Extension work, 96. 

State Grange, complaint by, 112. 

Use of , comparative percentages. 111, 112. 

Use of by University of Vermont and State 

Agricultural College. 91. 
Use of, reports required, 99-101. 
Use of, reports respecting. 102. 
Use of, imder Act of 1862, conclusion respect- 
ing, 95. 
Use of, mider Acts of 1890 and 1907, conclu- 
sion respecting, 115. [96. 
Federal extension work in agriculture, 7, 40, 4i8, 
Financial support, 30, 50, 51, 137, 140. '.J 
Foundation: [70. 
University of Vermont, conclusion respecting. 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College, conclusion respecting, 86. 
Founder's Day, at University of Vermont and 
State Agricultural College, 64, 65. [27. 
"Four-and-Two" division of secondary schools, 

VIENERAI. Assembly, communications by Gov- 
ernor, 1 
Glebe-rights, 13. [biy, 1. 

Governor, communications to General Assera- 
Grammar school lands. 11, 62, 73. 74. 
Grammar schools lands, investigation re.specting, 

recommended, 34. 
Grammar school lands, quantity and^value, 34, 

73, 74. 

rrioHEH education: 

Appropriations compared, Vermont and other 

states, 133-136. 
Function of Commission respecting, 4, 116, 

117, 122, 132, 136. 
Institutions of, all private, 7. 
Institutions of, purpose of report respecting. 

5, 132. 
Institutions of, state aid to, 7, 119, 125, 127, 

128, 132. 
Scholarships, 136. 

State's duty respectmg, 7, 30, 119, 125, 127. 
128, 132. 
High schools: see secondary schools. 
Huntington fund, 137. 
Hygiene, 49, 54. 

Increase of school term, 6, 31 
Institutes, 55. 



Junior high schools: 
Curriculum, 6, 28, 29. 
Equipment, 6, 28, 29. 
Xumber, 27, 28. 

Recommendations respecting, 6, 25, 28, 29. 
Teachers for, 48. 
Vocational education in, 6, 28, 42. 

JjENGTH of school term, 6, 31 
Lyndonville, Mr. Vail's school visited by Com- 
mission, 4. 

IVIanuai. training: 

Generally, 6, 7, 28, 42. 

State Agricultural School, 7, 41. 42. 
Manufacturing, compared with agriculture. 

17, 37-40. 
Memorial of Elijah Paine, 58. 
Memorial of Ira Allen, 58, 65. 
Middlebury College: 

Appropriation for proposed, 124. 

Appropriations, 123, 124, 128, 129. 

Brief by, 4. 

Commission's \-isit to, 4. 

Duplication in, 128-131. 

Hearing before Commission, 4, 132, 133. 

Teacher-training, 7. 123. 124. 
Model farms, 40, 41 . 
Morrill Act of 1862: [use of, 8, 95. 

Appropriations under, conclusion respecting 
Morrill Act of 1890: 

Appropriations under, conclusion respecting 
use of, 8, 115. 

Appropriatioife under, reports of use of, 102. 

Appropriations under, use of, comparative per- 
centages, 111, 112. 

Appropriations, reports of use required, form 
of, 99, 100, 101. 
Morrill. Senator Justin S., his attitude respect- 
ing use of Federal appropriations, 112, 113. 

Nelson Act of 1907: 

Appropriations under, conclusion respecting 

use of, 8, 115. 
Appropriations under, use of, comparative 
percentages. 111, 112. 
Normal Schools: 
Attendance, 44. 
Commission's visit to, 4. 
Duplication of teacher-training courses, 43. 



146 



INDEX 



Kind required, if any, 48. 
Recommendation respecting, 7, 45. 
Supply of teachers, as source of, 44. 
Norwich University : 

Appropriations to, 126, 129. 

Attendance, 126. 

Brief by, 4. 

Character — not a state institution, 126. 

Commission's visit to, 4. 

Conclusion respecting, 127. 

Hearing before Commission, 4. 

Military training, 12.5. 

"rerogative, 68 
Publicity, 55. 

JtvANDOLPH Agricultural School: see State 

Agricultural School 
Records and reports, 54. 

Reports of use of Federal appropriations, 102. 
Rural schools: 

Consolidation of, 5, 19, 20. 

Course of study, 5, 19, 20. 

OCHOLARSHIPS, 136 

School funds: 

Appropriated how, 138. 

Board of Education to control, 54. 

History of, 13, 137. 
School lands, 11, 13, ,34, 62, 73, 74. 
School term, 6, 31. 
Schools : 

Classification, 13-16, 54. 

Consolidation, 5, 19, 20. 

Constitutional requirements respecting, 5, 9. 
11, 14,15,30,31. 

Defects in, reason for, 5. 

Directors, location by, 14. 

Division of, 5, 24-29. 

Expense of, equalized, 30, 50, 51, 137, 140. 

Instruction, character of recommended, 6. 

Location, 14, 15, 16. 

Parents' duty respecting, 30, 138. 

Relation to colleges, 9, 132, 133, 136. 

State's duty respecting, 5, 9, 30, 50, 51. 132. 

Supreme Court decisions respecting, 12. 

Sustained how, 30, 50, 51, 137, 140. 

Town system retained, 9. 

Union of, 20, 49, 54. 

Vocational education in, 6, 35. 



Secondary schools: 

Academies as high schools, 28. 

Attendance, 17, IS. 22, 23, 28. 

Classification of, 14, 21, 24, 25. 

Colleges, relation to, 23, 30, 35, 36. 

Compulsory attendance, 27. 

Curriculum, 23, 28, 29, 42. 

Development, 22, 23. 

Division, change in point, 24-27, 29. 

"Four-and-Two" division, 27. 

Function of, 5, 22, 23. 

History of legislation respecting. 21. 

Instruction outside town, 13, 28. 

Junior high schools, 6, 25, 27-29, 42. 

Relation to elementary schools, 5, 18. 

Senior high schools, 6, 16, 29, 30. 

"SLx-and-Six" plan, 24-29. 

Teachers for, training of, 7. 119, 123. 

Teachers for, agriculture, 7, 119. 

Teacher-training courses, 46. 47. 
Senior high schools : 

Agriculture, teachers of, 7, 40, 119. 

Cmriculum, 6, 28, 29. 

Equipment, 6, 29. 

Recommendation respecting. 6, 29. 

Vocational education, 6, 7, 29, 41. 42. 
"Six-and-Six" plan, 24-29. 
Specially incorporated districts, 6, 33. 
State, must be considered as a whole education- 
ally, 9, 30. 
State Agricultural School: 

Agricultural training, function in, 41. 42. 

Equipment, 7, 41, 42. 

Visited by Commission, 4. 

Instruction in, 41, 42. 

Teachers. 7, 41. 
State Grange, complaint re use of Federal appro- 
priations, 112. 
Summer schools, 55. 
Supervision : 

History of, 48. 

State supervisors, 49. 

System of, 54. 
Supreme Court, decisions respecting schools, 12. 

1 EACHERS: 

Agriculture, training of. 7. 40. 118, 119. 
Certification. 54. 
Importance of. 43, 47. 
Qualification. 54. 



INDEX 



147 



Salary, -47. 138. 

Secondary schools, training of, 7, 119, 123. 
Tenure of position, 47. 
Training courses, history of, IS. 
Training courses, increase recomnienilcd. -17. 
Transportation, 19, 20, 138. 

Union of schools; 

Benefits of, 20, 49. 

Recommended compulsory, 49. 

Re-organization of unions, 54. 
Union superintendents, 49, 34. 
U. S. deposit money, 137. 
University of Vermont: 

Buildings as barracks, 78. 

Buildings burned and restored, 78. 

Character — public or private, 56, 76. 

Character — shown by history, 78-80. 

Charter, 58, 75. 

Foundation, conclusion respecting, 70. 

Founder of, 59, 65, 70. 

Founder's Day, 64, 65. 

Lands, grant of, 64, 66, 72. 

Loan from state, 79. 

Private corporation, claimed to be, in 1840, 79. 

State's contribution to foundation, 59. 

Trustees, oath to, effect of, 77. 

United States, dealt with, independent of 
state, 79. 

Visitatorial power respecting, 75, 76. 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural 
College: 

Agricultural extension, 7, 40, 42, 96. [ll9. 

Agricultural training, its function in, 115-117, 

Appropriation for, proposed, 119. 

Appropriations to, 128, 129. 

Briefs, 4, 65, 66, 73. 

Character, conclusion respecting, 91. 

Charter, 82. 

Commission's visit to, 4. 

Experiment station, 95, 96, 116. 

Federal appropriations, use of, government 
approval, 101, 114. 

Federal appropriations, percent used for 
agriculture, 109. 

Federal appropriations, percentages compared, 
111,112. 

Federal appropriations, reports respecting use, 
102. [use, 117. 

Federal appropriations, change looked for in 



Federal appropriations, under Act of 1862, 

conclusion respecting use of. 95. 
Federal appropriations, under Acts of 1890 

and 1907, conclusion respecting use of, 115. 
Foundation, conclusion respecting, 86. 
Founder's Day, 64, 65. 
Hearings before Commission, 4, 56, 77, 78, 

101,117. 
Teachers of agriculture, training of, 7, 40, 118. 

119. 
Trustees, election by General Assembly, 

effect of, 88. 
Visitatorial power respecting, 86, 87. 
Vocational training, its place in, 40. 

Ver.mont: 

AgriciUtural state, 7, 37, 39, 114. 

Agricultural statistics respecting, 37-39. 

An educational unit, 9, 30. 

Appropriations to higher education compared 
with other states, 133-136. 

Manufacturing and agriculture compared, 
38-40. 
Vermont Agricultural College: 

Character, conclusion respecting, 82. 

Charter, 80. 

Relation to state, 81. 

Report of trustees, 85. 
Visitatorial power, 75, 76, 86, 87. 
Vocational Education: 

Agriculture, importance of, 37-40. 

Commercial subjects, 6, 7, 28, 42. 

Defined, 35. 

Domestic science, 6, 7, 28, 35, 42. 

Elementary schools, 42. 

Emmigration, relation of, 36. 

Extension work in agricultiu-e, 7, 40, 42, 96. 

Junior high schools, 6, 28, 36, 42. 

Manual training, 6, 7, 28, 41, 42. 

Model farms, 40, 41. 

Recommendations respecting, 6, 42. 

Senior high schools, 6, 7, 29, 36, 41, 42. 

State Agricultural School, 41, 42. 

NAMES 

Allen, Ira. 58, 63, 65, 70. 

Benedict, Robert D., 63. 

Benton, President Guy Potter, 4, 56, 112. 

Blackstone, Sir William, 62. 

Brooks, Frank H., 140. 



148 



INDEX 



Butler, Nicholas Murray, HO. 

Chipman, Nathaniel, 11. 

Claxton, Philander P., 19. 

Clement. Percival W., 140. 

Comyns, Lord, 77. 

Dillon, John F., 88. 

Elliott, Profe.s.sor Edward C. 3. 

Estee, James B., 140. 

Farrington, Profe.s.sor Edward N. .S. 

Fiske, John, 59. 

Fletcher, Allen M., Governor, 1. 

Furst, Doctor Clyde, 3. 

Goodrich, Professor John Ellsworth, 63. 

Graham, Horace F., 140. 

Hamilton, John, 98. 

Hillegas, Professor Milo B., 3, 

Hunt, George L., 2, 140. 

Kent, Chancellor, 75. 

Kerr, W. J., 94, 95, 98. 

Learned, Doctor William S., 3. 

Leslie, William, 3. 

Lowell, President A. Lawrence. 123. 

Marshall, Chief Justice, 65, 69, 85. 

Meade. Professor G. B., 35. 

Morrill, Justin S., 80, 112, 113. 

Mower, E. C, 4. 

Olshausen, Professor George R., 3. 

Paine, Elijah, 58. 

Partridge, Captain Alden, 125. 

Partridge, Frank C, 4. 133. 

Poland, Judge Luke P., 12 

Pomeroy, John M., 114. 

Porter, Eli H., 140. 

Potter, Doctor Nathaniel Bowditch, 3. 

Powers, Chief Justice George M.. 4 

Powers, Judge H. Henry, 90. 

Pritchett, Doctor Henry S., 2. 

R«ed, Doctor Alfred 7,., 3. 

Roberts, Robert, 4. 

Ross, Chief Judge, 12. 

Rowell, Chief Justice, 11, 90. 

Royce, Chief Judge, 90. 

Sayre, Monell, 3. 

Smith, Treasurer C. P., 4. 

Spooner, President Charles H., 4. 

Stephen, Serjeant, 68. 

Story. Justice, 62, 72, 76. 

Sutherland, Professor W. J.. 17. 

Taft, Judge Russell S., 90. 

Thomas, Colonel Fred B., 4. 



Thomas, President John M., 4, 123, 132. 

Thompson, W. O., 93, 95, 98. 

Tinkham, Dean Henry C, 4, 122. 

Tuttle, Allison E., 140. 

Vail, Theodore N., 4, 140. 

Veazey. Judge Wheelock G., 90. 

Walker, Judge William H., 90. 

Watson, John H., 140. 

Webster, Daniel, 76. 

Wheeler, Rev. John, 58, 79, 80. 

QUOTATIONS AND CITATIONS 

Allen, Ira Memorial of, 58. 

Allen V. McKeen, 1 Sum. 276; 72. 

Bank of U. S. v. Planters' Bank of Georgia, 9 

Wheat. 904; 69,85. 
Benedict, Herbert D., Oration by, 63. 
Benton, President Guy Potter, Address before 

Commission, 56, 112. 
Blackstone's Commentaries, 62. 
Blair v. Chicago, 201 U. S. 400; 66. 
Board of Education v. Greenebaum & Sons, 39 

111.609; 88. 
Carnegie Report: 

Appropriation for teacher training, 47. 

College of Medicine, 122. 

Course of study in elementary schools. 18. 

Curriculum in junior high schools, 29. 

Curriculum in secondary schools, 28, 29. 

Federal appropriations, expenditure of, 109, 
110. 

Function of secondary schools, 23 

Junior high schools, 6. 

Norwich University, 127. 

School attendance, 17, 18. 

Schools, expense of, 30. 

Secondary-school teachers, 124. 

Secondary schools, attendance, 28. 

Senior high schools, 6. 

State Agricultural College, 115. 

Teachers, supply of, 43. 

Union superintendents, 49. 

Vocational education, 36. 
Charter of University of Vermont, 58. 
Constitution of 1777, 10, 56. 
Constitution of 1786, 10, 57. 
Constitution, Revision of 1797, 11. 
Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 4 Wlieat. 518, 

62, 65, 72. 
Dillion on Municipal Corporations, 88. 



INDEX 



149 



Downing v. Indian<a State Board of Agriculture 

12L.R.A.664; 69,73,86. 
Fiske'3 "The Critical Period of American His- 
tory", 59. 
Franklin County Grammar School v. Bailey, 62 

Vt.467; 66,74. 
Goodrich, Professor John Ellsworth, Oration by, 

63. 
Guthrie v. Harkness, 199 U. S. 148; 87. 
Hamilton, John, Paper by, 98. 
In the Matter of the Endowed Schools Act,") 
In the Matter of the St. Leonard, 

Shoreditch, Parochical Schools, 
10 Appeal Cases 304; 63, 70. 
In the Matter of Tappan's Appeal, .52 Conn. 412, 

114. 
Inland Empu-e Teachers' Association : 

Address before, "SL\-and-Six" plan, 26. 
Jacob's I.,aw Dictionary, 68. 
Kent's Commentaries, 73, 75. 
Kerr, W. J., Address by, 94, 95. 
Late Corporations of Latter-Day Saints v. U. S., 

136 U.S.I; 82. ,j 

Lawrence v. Rutland Railroad Company, 80^Vt. 

370; 56. 
Leading Cases in Equity, 113. 
Lowell's Government of England, 123, 124. 
Middlebury College Bulletin, 129, 130. 
National Biu-eau of Education : 

Report of, "Six-and-Six" division, 25. 
Newton v. Board of County Commissioners, 

100 U. S. 548; 66. 
Orleans County Grammar School v. Parker, 

25 Vt. 696; 73. 
Partridge, Frank C, Address of, before _Com- 

mission, 133. 
Pomeroy's Equity Jurisprudence, 114. 
Regents of University of Maryland v. Williams, 

9 GUI & Johns. 365; 70,71,86. 
Report of University of Maine, College of Agri- 
culture, 40. 
Scott V. St. Johnsbury Academy, 86 Vt. 172; 91. 
State of Wyoming v. Irvme, 206 U. S. 278; 130. 
Statutes: 

Act of October, 1781, re school tax, 61. 

Act of October, 1782, re school districts, 61. 

.\ct of March 3, 1787, re Constitution of 1786, 
62. 

.\ct of March. 8, 1787, re schools, 62. 

.\ct of November 10, 1802, re land grants, 66. 



Act of November, 2, 1810, re land grants, 67. 
Act of 1828, re University of Vermont, 78. 
Act of 1841, re union schools, 21. 
Act of 1844, re central schools, 21 . 
Act of November 22, 1864, re Vermont Agri- 
cultural College, 80. 
Act of November 8, 1865, re University of 
Vermont and State Agricultural College, 82. 
Act of 1867, re central schools, 21. 
No. 49, Acts of 1876, re training of teachers, 

45. 
Act of 1878, re central schools, 21. 
Act of Congress, 1887, re experiment stations, 

95. 
No. 105, Acts of 1892, re officers of state in- 
stitutions, 89. 
No. 19, Acts of 1894. re instruction outside 

the town, 13. 
No. 9, Acts of 1898, re teachers, 46. 
No. 69, Acts of 1910, re age of pupils, 17. 
No. 62, Acts of 1912, re classification of high 

schools, 21, 49. 
No. 75, Acts of 1912. re imion superintendents, 

27. 
No. 83, Acts of 1912, re duties of Commission 

respecting colleges, 2. 
No. 84, Acts of 1912, re agricultural exten- 
sion, 96. 
Act of Congress, May 8, 1914, re agricultural 

extension, 96. 
Morrill Act of 1862, 91. 
Morrill Act of 1890, 90. 
Nelson Act of 1907, 97. 

Public Statutes, Section 1016, re classifica- 
tion of high schools, 21. 
Public Statutes, Section 1017, requiring high 

schools, 21, 29. 
Public Statutes, Section 1021, re classification 
of high schools, 21. [l7. 

Public Statutes. Section 1027, re age of pupils. 
Public Statutes, Section 1029, re compulsory 
attendance, 27. 
Revised Laws, Section 499, 11, 
Stephen's Commentaries, 68. 
Sutherland, Professor W. J., Address by, 17. 
Thomas, President John M., Address of, before 

Commission, 132. 
Thomas v. Industrial University, 71 111. 310; 69. 
Thompson, W. O., Address by, 93, 98. 
Thompson's History of Vermont, 59, 60. 



150 



INDEX 



Tinkham, Dean Henry C, Address by, re Col- 
lege of Medicine, 122. 
Town of Barre v. School District No. 13 in 

Barre.67Vt. 108; 12. 
Trustees of Caledonia County Grammar School 

V.Burt, 11 Vt. 032; 73,74. 
U. S, Bureau of Education, Rulings re land- 
grant colleges, 99-102, 131. 
TJ. S. Census Bureau, Statistics, 37. 
U. S. Commissioner of Education: 

Clinical facilities in medical colleges, 121 . 

Consolidation of rural schools, 20. 

Expenditure of appropriations to land-grant 
colleges, 110, 111. 

Instruction in rtu-al schools, 19. 

Medical colleges, 120. 

Normal schools, 45. 

Teachers of agriculture, 118. 

Secondary schools, 22. 

Secondary-school teachers, 124. 

"Six-and-Six" division, 25. 



Vocational education, 35, 36. 
U. S. Department of Agriculture: 

Bulletin 142, 93. 98. 

Bulletin 164, 93, 98. 

Rulings of, 99. 
U. S. Senate, Speech in, re vocational educa- 
tion, 35. 
University of Vermont. Charter of, 58. 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural 

College V. Baxter's Estate, 42 Vt. 99; 56. 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural 

College: 

Address before Commission re Federal appro- 
priations, 101. 
WTieeler, Rev. John, Historical discourse by, 

58. 
Wheeler v. Lane, 15 Vt. 26; 79. 
Willard V.Pike, 55 Vt. 202; 90. 
Williams v. School District No. 6, in Newfane, 

33 Vt. 271; 12. 
Yick Wo V. Hopkins, US U. S. 356; 15. 



ERRATA 

Page 18, line 20; insert "then" after "even", reading as follows: "even then too 
large" etc. 

Page 48, line 12; insert "and" after "schools", reading as follows: "urban schools 
and in the junior high schools." 

Page 65, line 5; insert "in" after "and", reading "and in the current number". 

Page 75, line 16; "conditions" should read "condition". 

Page 79, line 8; "adjusts" should read "adjust". 



A STUDY OF 
EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

PREPARED BY THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR 
THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING 

AT THE REQUEST OF THE 

COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 

AND CONDITIONS OF VERMONT 



^ 



MONTPELIER, VERMONT 

1914 



D. B. 0PDIKE, THE MEIIRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON 



CONTENTS 

PART I METHODS AND RESULTS 

PAGE 

I. The Reason for the Enquiry 3 

II. The Method of the Enquiry 4 

III. Conclusions and Recommendations 7 

PART II DESCRIPTION AND DISCUSSION 

I. The State of Vermont 19 

II. The Existing Educational System 25 

III. The Elementary Schools 86 

IV. The Secondary Schools 6S 
V. The Training, Certification, and Supply of Teachers 111 

VI. Vocational Schools 125 

VII. Records and Accounts 134 

VIII. Tlie Financial Support of the Public School System 140 

IX. The Reorganization of the Agencies for Administration 148 

X. The Vermont Colleges and Their Relations to the State 153 

XI. The University of Vermont 158 

XII. Middlebury College 178 

XIII. Norwich University 187 

XIV. The History of Vermont Subsidies to Higher Education 194 
XV. The Outlook for Higher Education in Vermont 199 

XVI. Program of Reorganization 210 

PART III : STATISTICS 215 



PART I 
METHODS AND RESULTS 

I. THE REASON FOR THE ENQUIRY 
II. THE METHOD OF THE ENQUIRY 
III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



I 

THE REASON FOR THE ENQUIRY 

The Legislature of Vermont, under a joint resolution approved November 19, 1912, 
provided for a commission to report upon the educational responsibilities of the state. 
The scope of the work of this commission is defined in the resolution as follows : 

Whereas, a doubt has arisen in the minds of many of those most intimately 
related to the secondai'y and elementary schools of the state as to the efficiency 
of our common school system, and 

Whereas, a similar doubt prevails among many friends of higher education 
regarding the adequacy of the return which the state is getting from its appro- 
priations in aid thereof, and 

Whereas, His Excellency, the Governor, has recommended in a recent mes- 
sage the appointment of a commission to investigate and report on these matters : 

Therefore, it is hereby 

Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives, That a com- 
mission of nine persons, at least two of whom shall be experts in or engaged in 
educational work, shall be appointed by tiie Governor to enquire into the entire 
educational system and condition of this state. This commission shall report at 
the earliest possible date on the several rights, duties, and obligations of the 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Middlebury College, and 
Norwich University, with such recommendations as wiU prevent unnecessary 
duplication and consequent financial waste. 

Resolved, That as soon as practicable after reporting on the institutions of 
higher learning hereinbefore referred to, the said commission shall recommend, 
by bill or otherwise, such reorganization of our public elementary and second- 
ary schools, in adjustment to the entire educational system of the state, as will 
pi'omote the ends of unity, harmony, economy, and efficiency. 

Resolved, That the members of said commission shall serve without pay, but 
they shall be paid by the state their necessary expenses on requisitions to be 
approved by the Governor and chairman of said commission, and the Auditor of 
Accounts shall draw orders therefor. Said commission may employ expert assist- 
ance and include the expense thereof in said requisitions. 

To carry out the purposes of the act, the following commission was named by the 
governor : 

John H. Watson, Chairman, Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, Montpelier. 
Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, New York City. 
Theodore N. Vail, President of the American Telegraph and Telephone Company, 

Lyndonville. 
Percival W. Clement, former President of the Rutland Railroad, Rutland. 
Horace F. Graham, State Auditor of Accounts, Montpelier. 

Frank H. Brooks, President of E. and T. Fairbanks and Company, St. Johnsbury. 
Eli H. Porter, former member of the State Railroad Commission, Wilmington. 



4 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

James B. Estee, Mayor of Montpelier. 

Allison E. Tuttle, President of the State Teachers' Association, Bellows Falls. 

George L. Hunt, lawyer, of Montpelier, is clerk of the commission. 

At meetings held January 25 and February 12, 1913, the commission considered 
methods for ascertaining the present educational conditions of the state and for 
preparing an exhibit of details available for convenient use. It was resolved that the 
commission should, in addition to the visitations, public hearings, and enquiries con- 
ducted by its own members, cause to be made an expert study of the school system, 
including the higher institutions of learning. 

By a resolution adopted February 24, 1913, the commission invited the Carnegie 
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to undertake this stud> , with such 
assistance and cooperation as the President of the Foundation might determine to 
be necessary. 

The report which follows is made in response to this invitation. 



II 
THE METHOD OF THE ENQUIRY 

The most characteristic feature of contemporary economic and civic life in America 
is the sentiment, widespread throughout the body of citizenship, that the prevailing 
order no longer suffices. Educational institutions, along with other social agencies, 
are being subjected to-day to such complex forces of unrest. There is a feeling, whether 
well founded or not, that the relationship between the common schools and the needs 
of the communities in which they stand is not of the best. Pai"t of the public, at least, 
has been taught to believe within the last decade that the public school system is inert 
and unresponsive to the changing and advancing life of our democratic civilization. 
This sentiment — for it is a sentiment rather than a conviction — has found expres- 
sion in two widely different ways. On the one hand, an effort has been made to render 
the public schools responsive to what have been assumed to be present day needs, by 
the addition of a large number of new subjects to the school curriculum ; on the other 
hand, there is going on a cautious endeavor to submit our existing educational sys- 
tem to a critical, scientific examination, with the idea that the conclusions drawn 
from this examination should form the basis for a wise and economic reorganization 
of the school system. The school enquiry, or as it is more generallv known, the " school 
survey," represents the latter movement. Surveys have come to be so frequent in educa- 
tional and civic movements that some doubt has already arisen as to the thoroughness 
of their procedure and as to the trustworthiness of their results. There can be no (|ues- 
tion that such studies have in a measure partaken of the very superficiality for which 
they arraign the school svstem itself. Nevertheless, it seems clear that the method 



THE METHOD OF THE ENQUIRY 5 

of a thoughtful enquiry into existing educational machinery must form the only 
sound basis for viltiniate improvement and advancement, and what is still more signi- 
ficant, it must form the only method by which a clear understanding on the part of 
the whole people concerning the school system can be secured. For in the last analysis 
the worth and progress of the public schools depend upon a well-informed public 
opinion. 

The present enquiry represents the first comprehensive effort on the part of a state 
of the Union to study its school system as a whole from the elementary school to the 
university. It starts out with the assumption that educational institutions in Ver- 
mont are not unrelated agencies, but form parts of one educational system, whether 
controlled by the state or not. 

The enquiry is not in the ordinary sense an investigation. It is not undertaken 
with the desire to criticize the work or to find the mistakes of any men or set of men. 
Its attitude toward the past is in the main negative, except in so far as an historical 
perspective is necessary. What the enquiry has tried to do has been to set before the 
Educational Commission of Vermont and the people of the state their school system 
as it exists and is operated to-day, and to give such constructive suggestions as this 
examination shows to be feasible. It has sought to answer the questions: What is the 
system of schools to-day trying to do.'' What are its limitations.'' and What are its 
possibilities.? 

In the prosecution of such an enquiry care has to be taken not only to obtain the 
necessary data upon which to form a sound judgment, but what is still more diffi- 
cult, to present the material collected and to offer the conclusions which have been 
reached in a clear and simple form. Printed reports of educational studies are gen- 
erally weighted down with so many statistics and with such an amount of detail that 
the intelligent layman cannot find his way through the mass. 

In pi-eparing this report an enormous amount of material has been brought to- 
gether, nearly ail of which is of great interest to the student of education, but printed 
in a report would, by its very bulk, cloud tlie important and fundamental issues. It 
has been sought, therefore, to present the facts without burdening the pages of the 
report with too great an amount of statistics. The important statistics are given in 
Part III. 

In collecting the necessary information cliief reliance has been placed upon exten- 
sive and detailed studies on the ground. The effort has been made to minimize the 
factors of individual judgment and to record observations in objective terms. The 
aim has not been to make a microscopic examination of the school system; on the 
contrary, the enquiry has attempted to place before the people of the state those 
essential facts and relationships that determine the economy and the performance 
of the school system as a whole. It is necessary in such a study to concentrate upon 
sti'ategic factors and those tliat have significance. No outside group of men, how- 
ever thoroughly they may study the educational problems of a state or of a region, 



6 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

can transform the school system. That must be done by the agency which is charged 
with the conduct and oversight of the schools themselves. The best that an outside 
critic can do is to suggest the form of organization adapted to administer tlie school 
system and the general underlying principles upon which it should act. The actual 
development and improvement of the schools will in the end rest with those who 
direct and conduct the schools. 

Throughout the report the effort is made to avoid both the attitude of flattery 
and that of mere fault-finding, and to give the result of an honest and sincere study 
clearly, frankly, and sympathetically. 

The most distinctive and important characteristic of the whole work lies in the 
fact that it is a first-hand study of education in Vermont made from the standpoint 
of one organism, embracing the whole educational system from elementary school 
to university. In this respect it is in marked contrast to former studies, in which sep- 
arate schools or groups of schools have been considered as unrelated agencies. The 
commission itself is charged with the duty of viewing education in Vermont from 
this broader standpoint, and those to whom the commission entrusted the duty of 
this study have tried to keep consistently in mind the f;ict that there was desired 
for the state of Vermont a conception of education as a single thing. It is from the 
consistency of this point of view that the study possesses whatever significance it 
may have attained. 

A word should be said concerning the personnel and methods of work of those 
responsible for the report. This study was committed to the charge of the Carnegie 
Foundation. It has occupied for a number of months a large share of the time and 
energy of the President, the Secretary, and other members of the staff; and other 
experts in various fields have shared in planning and carrying out the work. 

Professor Edward C. Elliott of the University of Wisconsin was at the beginning 
invited to take part in the study, and to give to the planning of the work the benefit of 
his experience in such surveys. In addition. Professor Elliott made special studies of 
the normal schools and the state system of educational administration and expendi- 
ture. The detailed examination of the elementary schools was committed to Professor 
Milo B. Hillegas of Teachei-s College, Columbia University, and that of the secondary 
schools to Dr. William S. Learned of the Harvard School of Education. Throughout, 
the utmost independence has been given to the individual investigator, but all of the 
material brought together has been submitted to the scrutiny and suggestion of all 
the men composing this group. The report, therefore, represents not the detached 
opinions of individuals, but a coordinated whole. 

Two of the sections are essentially monographs, that on the elementary schools hav- 
ing been prepared by Dr. Hillegas and that on the secondary schools by Dr. Learned. 
These two studies, forming as they do the backbone of the educational enquiry, 
required the presence in the state of these two men for many weeks, and represent 
the result of months of study. 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 7 

In addition to the group just mentioned, the Foundation has availed itself wher- 
ever possible of expert service in special fields. Professor Edward H. Farrington of 
the College of Agriculture of the University of Wisconsin made a study of the ag- 
ricultural college and its relations to the farming industries ; Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch 
Potter, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at Columbia University, of the 
medical school; Dr. George R. Olshausen of the United States Bureau of Standards, 
of the three engineering schools ; Miss L. E. Stearns, Cliief of the Traveling Library 
Department of the Wisconsin Free Library, of library facilities in relation to the 
public schools ; and Mr. William Leslie, public accountant, of the system of accounts 
and financial statements in use in the school system. 

It should be added that, in accordance with the wishes of the commission, an effort 
was made to complete this study in a shorter time. The experience of those engaged 
in the work has gone to show that a considerable period of study and of reexamination 
is a necessary part of a work of this character. It has seemed impossible to go faster. 

Those responsible for this study desire to express their appreciation of the attitude 
of the governor of the state and of the Educational Commission, as well as of the 
boards of trustees and presidents of the higher educational institutions, the super- 
intendent of education, the state board of education, and the school officials and 
teachers. The governor and the commission have simply said to those charged with 
the enquiry : Find the facts and report them to us ; tell us the truth about education 
in Vermont. 

In the same excellent spirit those connected with colleges and schools have lent 
themselves to the furnishing of all information which either the commission or those 
engaged in this study have desired. It has been an inspiration to serve a commission 
which asked only to know the truth; it has been equally pleasant to deal with school 
officials and teachers so willing to submit their entire educational machinery to an 
outside critic. 



Ill 
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

The second part of this report describes in detail the condition, operation, educational 
relations, and the financial support of the various classes of schools and higher insti- 
tutions in the state of Vermont. 

The primary purpose of the study is to place in the hands of the Educational Com- 
mission the essential facts which will enable them to form conclusions, to make recom- 
mendations, and to propose legislation. The recommendations to the state and to the 
legislature belong to the commission and not to the group of men associated with the 
Carnegie Foundation and engaged in this study. It seems, however, desirable to col- 
lect into a summary, for the use both of the commission and of the citizens of Ver- 



8 EDUCATION IN VEKMONT 

mont, the conclusions to which this united group of students has been led. These 
results and conclusions are, therefore, here stated in brief form. 

A necessary prerequisite to an appreciation of the report is some knowledge of the 
industrial, social, and financial characteristics of the state. As compared with most 
states of the American Union, Vermont is small, having a population of some 350,000. 
Its total annual income is not larger than the sum annually expended by some of 
the great western states upon their state universities. Vermont is thei-efore financially 
unable to enter upon many of the projects of education that a rich and populous state 
can undertake. Furthermore, the chief industry is agriculture, and the state is likely 
to remain — at least for some generations — predominantly agricultural. Finally, it 
is to be remembered that Vermont, in larger measure than other states, has sent its 
young people away from home into the industrial occupations of other communities. 
Its population has remained practically stationary for nearly half a century. Its young 
people liave gone to the other New England states, to New York, to the west. With 
this migration there is no question that the system of education hitherto pursued 
has had something to do. 

One conclusion stands out as the fundamental and important outcome of this 
study. It is that the chief problem with which the state is concerned is the care and 
development of its elementary and secondary schools. No one whose vision is tiiie 
would seek to belittle the problem of higher education, but in rural communities 
such as prevail in Vermont, the problem of the common scliool overshadows all others. 
So overwhelming is its importance that it is not too much to say that if the state 
develops an efficient and fruitful system of elementai-y and secondary schools and 
makes sure of an effective source from which teachers for the elementary and second- 
ary schools may be drawn, the essential problem of education for Vermont is solved. 

The detailed studies that foUow show that of the nearly 1700 schoolhouses in 
the state, nearly 1400 are one-room school buildings — nearly all of these rural 
schools. Of the 83,000 children between the ages of five and seventeen, 57,000 are 
attending the elementary scliools. Few of these children enter the school before six 
years of age, and practically none remain after sixteen. For these elementary schools 
there are required about 2400 teachers, whose pav is between $8 and S9 weekly. The 
future of Vermont and her citizens is to be wi-ought out in these schools and by these 
teachers. 

In a similar way the detailed study elsewhere presented shows that the problem 
of secondary education in Vermont has the rural situation as its essential factor. To 
make these two agencies, the elementary school and the secondary school, eflfective 
in forming the lives of the children is the fundamental problem which confronts the 
state. 

A study of the detailed reports wiU make it clear that, notwithstanding the great 
amount of devotion put into the separate schools, and notwithstanding also the intel- 
ligence applied by this or that supervisor, the elementary and secondary schools of 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 9 

Vermont have for years been conducted upon a curriculum whose tendency is to draw 
children away from the homes in which they were born. Notwithstanding certain 
improvements, the school still fails to interest them directly and efficiently in the life 
about them. This condition is dealt with in the two sections relating to the elemen- 
tary and secondary schools. These sections carefully discuss the fundamental ques- 
tions, What is the elementary school for.'' What sort of school can serve fruitfully 
and efficiently the aspirations, the needs, and the vocational wants of a rural popu- 
lation.? Whether the answers to these questions have been completely worked out 
or not, it seems clear that at least four things must be done in order to bring the ele- 
mentary and secondary school system of Vermont to the point where, as an agency 
of civilization, it will meet the requirements of its people. 

First, there must be adopted in the elementary school, and later in the high school, 
a course of study related to the life of the child. This does not mean that the strong 
intellectual motive of the elementary school must be abandoned. The value of studies 
like the mother tongue and elementary mathematics can never be questioned, but it is 
clear that the domination of the college and of preparation for college has had an 
undue effect upon the courses of study and the methods of instruction even in the ele- 
mentary schools, ninety-five per cent of whose children are never to enter college. The 
difficulty arises partly out of the fundamental conception of education and partly 
out of a failure to accomplish practically the result aimed at. That human being is 
educated who has been so trained as to make the best out of the place in life in which 
he finds himself, taking into account his full capacity — spiritual, intellectual, eco- 
nomic. Education is therefore a relative, not an absolute term. The school as the agency 
of education is founded upon this conception, but traditional school methods tend 
constantly to obscure it and to harden into specifics unrelated to the life experience 
of the children. As a minimum the school should do at least three things for the 
child — teach him self-discipline, teach him to think, and strengtiien his relations 
to the social and industrial interests of his community. It is not too much to say 
that not alone in Vermont, but throughout our states, in the country-side schools 
the children are put through the grades under a regime which gives them little self- 
discipline, dulls their minds with artificial repetitions and routine tasks, and, so far as 
it educates them at all, educates them away from the life in which they have grown 
up. Any form of school that weakens the chiWs interest in the life of his community 
is deficient in the elemental requisite of the school as an agency of civilization. Some- 
thing is radically wrong with a school in an agricultural community that develops 
motormen, stenographers, and tvpewriters, and fails to develop farmers, dairymen, 
and gardeners. A course of study prepared with the view of correcting this condition 
is the first step in reform. 

Secondly, there should be provided for the school system of Vermont an educational 
administration that shall supervise the schools as a whole, and that shall bring to 
every high school and to every elementary school genuine, sympathetic educational 



10 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

advice. It has been pathetic to see the eagerness with which the rural school teacher 
reaches out for educational help. One^s respect for womankind (the typical rural 
teacher is a young woman of twenty-two or twenty-three) and one's respect for the 
rural school deepen when one sees the devotion, the energy, and oftentimes the great 
natural teaching ability that are displayed by a rural elementary school teacher. Any 
system of educational administration that is to be successful must provide the means 
by which these isolated teachers may be visited by experts who can sympathetically, 
intelligently, and skilfully help them to correct mistakes and to strengthen their own 
good qualities. This means adequate administrative organization at the top. 

In the third place, and equally necessary, is the condition that the educational ad- 
ministration, whatever it may be, which is to scrutinize, to assist, and to inspire, shall 
be free from political entanglement. In Vermont, as in all other states, education is to- 
dav mingled with local politics. The unique political organization of the state, under 
which each town has equal representation in the House of Representatives, lends itself 
to such a confusion. It is a part of human nature that under such circumstances the 
local representative will interfere either for his own interest or for the supposed in- 
terest of the schools in his region. A form of administration must be devised under 
which the inspection and scrutiny and development of the schools shall be inde- 
pendent of politics, and this is no less in the interest of those who hold office than in 
the interest of the schools and of the scholars. In many instances — perhaps in most 
instances — the intentions of the political representative who interferes are good. 
The difficulty is that whatever his intentions are, he is almost sure to interfere from 
the local and personal point of view, and the success of the administration depends 
upon delivering the school system from local and personal interference. Freedom from 
political pressure must be had before the school can do its work with an eye single 
to the good of all the people of its region. 

Finally, agencies must be provided by which the requisite number of trained teachers 
can be obtained for the elementary schools — teachers who shall have had some train- 
ing not only in arithmetic and in geography and in English, but shall have had a train- 
ing also in the social point of view from which they must approach their work. The 
future of Vermont lies in the hands of these teachers, and no single act that the state 
government can perform is more important than that which seeks to provide the 
means for training in the right way an adequate supply of teachers for the elementary 
rural schools. As a practical matter this means that a twenty-two-year-old young 
woman, paid at present at the low rate of about eight and a half dollars a week, 
must be fitted for this task, and that her education for the teacher's calling must be 
had within easy reach of her home. 

In the sections on elementary, secondary, and normal schools, plans are outlined 
for the training of a large number of elementary school teachers. Experience shows 
that for the next generation, at least, the school teacher is to be the country girl of 
the neighborhood, and that she must ol)tain a considerable part of her j)reliminary 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 11 

education and her training as a teacher near her home. The country girl transplanted 
to a city and given a college education seldom comes back to the country school. In 
time, there will be needed, doubtless, an institution specifically devoted to the train- 
ing of teachers. It is pointed out elsewhere that neither of the existing normal schools 
is fitted to answer this purpose. It wiU be found wise to give up both of these institu- 
tions as soon as may be, and to leave to the state board of education to suggest later 
the form of teachers' training institution that is to supplement the work of the sec- 
ondary school in the training of teachers. 

It may be added that the teachers necessary for the secondary schools are already 
supplied in sufficient numbers by the colleges, but the examination that lias been 
made shows that tlie quality of these teachers, so far as their knowledge of theoretical 
and practical teaching is concerned, leaves much to be desired. It is clear that if the 
colleges are to supply a teacher equal to the work of the secondary school, they must 
give these teachers a far more practical training in teaching than has hitherto been 
the case. 

As a part of elementary and secondary instruction there should be included the 
gradual development of vocational facilities. The chief industry in Vermont to-day is 
agriculture, and while manufacturing is also making strides, it may fairly be assumed 
that for many years to come agriculture will remain the chief vocation of its citi- 
zens, and the development gradually of a sufficient number of trade schools or courses 
in agriculture should be a part of the school program. Such schools will naturally 
form a part of the regular system of schools, and their development will be a part of 
the work of the board of education and its experts, working in unison with the towns. 

Here, then, are the fundamental things which this study points out as the neces- 
sary steps to an educational program which shall educate the sons and daughters 
of Vermont for service in Vermont, not for migration; which shall turn their faces 
toward the duties and opportunities of their own homes rather than toward the 
more tempting, Ijut more illusory, ventures of a city. These are, first of all, a course 
of study in the elementary and secondary school having relation to the life, the as- 
pirations, the needs of the pupils; second, an educational supervision of the whole 
system of public education that shall be able to give wise counsel, to correct mis- 
takes including its own, to infuse a spirit of devotion and of serious thinking; third, 
an educational administration that shall be free from political pressure, independent 
of local politics, able to deal with the schools from the standpoint of education only, 
not from the standpoint of the interests of an individual or of a locality; and finally, 
agencies whose specific work shall be the training of the elementary school teacher, — 
a training that shall bring out the significance of that work, that shall breathe into 
it an ever increasing amount of enthusiasm and appreciation, and that in due time 
will bring to the efficient teacher a greater security, a true career, and a better finan- 
cial reward. Under such a regime the teacher would in time come to be a member of 
an honored profession, not a hired man or woman. 



12 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Logically, the matter of administration must be met first. What form of organi- 
zation is adapted to undertake such a supervision of the schools, to furnish expert 
advice, to develop a curriculum which shall be fruitful, and to train, direct, and aid 
the teachers themselves? 

All problems of education resolve themselves in the last analysis to the process of 
bringing an immature mind into contact with a mind which is trained, with a spirit 
which is sympathetic, with a faculty which is critical, but kindly. The problem of the 
educational supervision of a system of schools consists in providing a sufficient body 
of well- trained men and women at the top, and in giving to them the chance to work, 
unhampered by ulterior and outside interests, with the teachers whom thev desire to 
help. 

Such an organization would consist of a commissioner of education and a competent 
staff of assistants, who are experts in various fields, and are in constant touch with 
the superintendents and with the teachers themselves. Without giving details else- 
where elaborated, such an organization would be able to bring to each school and to 
each teacher as large a measure of helpful advice, of criticism, and of encouragement 
as the abilities of its members could supply. 

To protect such an organization and to make it independent of politics, the head of 
the educational system should be the executive officer of a small board, which should 
consist of public-spirited citizens serving without salary and acting as the advisers and 
helpers of the educational head of the system. The board should be a lay board, not a 
board of educational experts, and no man should have a place upon it who is directly 
concerned or interested in any school or educational institution of the state. The func- 
tion of such a board is not to furnish expert advice; it is to furnish sound counsel and 
to stand as the protector of the wliole school system against interference. It is its duty 
to see that the head of the school system and all others associated with it are work- 
ing in the tine spirit of education, not from any other motive. Some such organization 
would be competent to deal with the problem of education as a whole, not piece- 
meal; as an organization, not as unrelated principals and teachers. To-day one sees 
everywhere in the world the results of efficient organization. Organization can be car- 
ried so far that it limits personal initiative and individual development. In America, 
however, all our tendencies are in the other direction. We ignore the results of good 
organization and affect a belief that Americans, untrained and unorganized, are 
able to compete with the best training and the most effective organization. Such an 
organization as is here suggested would make for efficiency at no loss of individual 
freedom. 

So far, therefore, as the results of this study concern the general public school 
system of Vermont, they are contained in the recommendation : Establish a competent 
educational administration; free it from political interference; give it a free hand 
to work out a course of study that shall meet the people's needs, to train teachers 
who are able to deal with its life, and to develop those vocational schools which may 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 13 

minister most directly to the opportunities which offer themselves to the Vermont 
boy and the Vermont girl. 

The situation that exists in higher education in the state is likewise dealt with in 
detail in the sections referring to the separate institutions of higher learning which 
participate in the state subsidy. Briefly stated, there are three institutions that for 
years have been obtaining from the state treasury larger or smaller appropriations. 
In recent years these sums have grown rapidly, until at present the three colleges 
are receiving from the state something over §100,000 annually. In addition, the state 
receives from the federal government for educational purposes $88,000. 

Elsewhere in the i^eport the process through which this situation has been brought 
about is fully described. Beginning thirty years ago with a small appropriation to 
a single institution, first one and then another of these colleges has successfully ap- 
plied to the legislature for a share in the state's revenue. The increase of the appro- 
priation by the friends of one has been a signal for an increase in the appropriation 
for the others, and by a perfectly natural process the three institutions have been led 
into a rivalry alike harmful to them, to the state, and to education. The struggle for 
the college appropriations is more or less intimately connected with all other legisla- 
tion. Many abuses have crept in to help out the plea for such appropriations or to 
justify it. The subsidizing of students bv scholarships, some of them to be conferred 
by members of the senate, is particularly to be regretted. Such subsidies to students 
are nearly always unwise, and if given at all, they ought to be open to students under 
some fair system of competition, and should entitle the holder to go not to a par- 
ticular institution, but to any institution that he may choose. The subsidizing of stu- 
dents to go to coDege is at best of doubtful wisdom. Tlie opportunities for education 
in this country are so numerous that the ambitious student with energy and courage 
can find his way through college by his own efforts. Whatever assistance is given 
should be under conditions carefully planned to safeguard the integrity and self- 
respect of the student. Scholarship aid should be a loan to be repaid, not a free gift. 
Any system of scholarships that selects a few beneficiaries and demands no return from 
them results inevitably in tempting into college youths who ought to find their life 
training elsewhere, a result alike harmful to the student and to the college. This is 
an entirely different matter from providing free education for all of the people. 

The existing relation of the state to these colleges ought to cease. As is elsewhere 
fully pointed out, it is demoralizing alike to the political interests of the state, to 
the institutions themselves, and to education. In saying all of this no criticism is 
aimed at those responsible for the present policy of the three colleges. They inher- 
ited a situation ; they did not make it. A man called to the presidency of a college is 
first of all pledged to support the development of his institution. It is not for him 
to decide the question whether the state should give money to higher education; that 
is a question for the law-makers. There is no gain to be had in asking at whose door 
is to be laid the responsibility for the condition that exists. It is plainly intolerable, 



14 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

and the plain duty of the legislature is to end it. The question is not what has been 
going on in the last thirty }ears, but what ought to be the policy of the state of 
Vermont toward education in the future? Our profound conviction is that the state 
ought first of all to face its duty toward that fundamental education which involves 
the interests of all citizens. It should appropriate no money whatsoever to higher 
education until its duty toward the public schools has been fully met. In our judg- 
ment, the cause of higher education in \'ermont would not suffer if it received no 
state aid in the future. 

There are only two consistent policies that a state can pursue toward institutions 
of higher education. It can give its support entirely to the elementary and second- 
ary school work and leave higher education to be supported by public philanthropy. 
This is the situation in most of the New England states. It is clear-cut; it is consist- 
ent; it is defensible both on the ground of public policy and of education. The other 
attitude is that assumed by the states of the central west, of the far west, and of 
the south; namely, that higher education is likewise a function of the state and is 
entitled to state support, but that the state wiU appropriate money to no institu- 
tion that it does not own and control. This policy is also clear-cut and defensible, 
both educationally and on the ground of a wise public policy. 

For \'ermont the adoption of this second policy is encumbered with evident diffi- 
culties ; Vermont camiot possibly support a state university that seeks to cover the 
ordinary field of undei-graduate and professional instruction. It is no burden for states 
like California, Illinois, Minnesota, or Wisconsin to appropriate §2,000,000 or even 
§5,000,000 annually to their state universities. The entire annual income of the state 
of Vermont is but little more than the sum which each of these states gi\'es annually 
to its university. The most that the state of Vermont could possibly do, if it selected 
one of these subsidized institutions to become its state university, would be to help 
out the resources derived from tlie friends of education and of the institution itself 
for the development of certain restricted fields of education which were deemed espe- 
cially important to the state. Under such circumstances, however, it is fairly certain 
that state aid would check and eventually dry up the springs of private giving, and 
prove in the end an embarrassment rather than a help to higher education. 

Before any such policy can be adopted or such appropriation made, the question 
must be answered: Has X'ermont any money to spend at this time on higher educa- 
tion, in view of its obligations and its needs in the fundamental elementary education 
of the great body of children.'' With still more emphasis it may be asked. Can it afford 
to subsidize two rival schools of engineering, two schools of education, or a medical 
school in which last year's entering class contained three \'ermont students.'' 

To those who have been engaged in this study it seems clear that at the present 
time Vermont needs all its money for the more important, the more vital, the more 
direct service of its public school system. It is also by no means certain that the 
withdrawal of state aid from the three colleges that have hitherto been subsidized 



CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15 

may not in tlie long run be the best possible thing that could happen for them. Any 
other decision is likely to perpetuate the unfortunate rivalry that now exists. No 
matter upon what grounds a privately endowed institution is subsidized, no matter 
how restricted the field to which the appropriation might seem to apply, just so long 
as the state of Vermont subsidizes these three institutions, education and politics in 
Vermont will be inextricably mingled, and unprofitable duplication will continue. 
There is no way in which the situation can be ended once for all except for the state 
either to adopt one of these institutions as its own, to be absolutely owned and con- 
trolled by it, or else to leave higher education to those public-spirited citizens who, 
in all the states of our Union, have come forward so promptly and so patriotically 
for its support. Every consideration of the larger interests of Vermont points out the 
latter of these policies as the right one to adopt. The duty of the state in this matter 
and of those charged with legislating for it seems to us clear and unequivocal. 

The conclusions that have been reached may be resolved into the following recom- 
mendations : 

1. The recognition by the state of the reorganization of elementary and secondary 
education, including vocational training, as its immediate and supreme duty. 

2. The organization of the office of a commissioner of education upon a basis 
competent to furnish expert supervision for the public school system. This in- 
volves a small lay board serving without salary, and salaries for educational 
experts of a character to secure the ablest men and women. The details of this 
or'ganization are given in Section IX of Part II. 

3. The problem of revision of the course of study, the establishment of agencies 
for training teachers, and other administrative details to be worked out by this 
board and its experts. 

4. The State Agricultural College to receive a larger proportion of the gener- 
ous annual appropriation to the state from the federal government and to be 
developed along lines calculated to make a fruitful connection between the Agri- 
cultural College and the industries of farming, dairving, gardening, stock and 
poultry raising, and fruit culture. 

5. Subsidies to higher education should cease, the colleges being given a reason- 
able time in which to rearrange their budgets. 

The practical question remains. What would be the cost of the educational system 
that is recommended.'' 

In subsequent sections will be found such details as are preliminary to an answer to 
this question. The actual details must be gradually worked out by the board of edu- 
cation and its officers. No such organization can be built up in a day or a year, and 
no outside agency can do more than indicate the form of the organization and the 
general principles which should guide it. No system of schools is ever to be brought 
to a high order of educational efficiency by the formula of an outsider. Educational 
salvation is not so easy as this. Each state must work out its own salvation through 



16 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

its adopted agencies. The most that can be done by the friendliest critic is to indi- 
cate the form of organization that experience has tested and the path that has led 
to educational progress. 

Stated in its briefest form, the financial situation is this: Vermont is spending upon 
its schools at the rate of $1,895,000 a year. Of this sum about $1,400,000 comes 
directly from the local communities, and about half a million is contributed by the 
state; it is in virtue of this state aid, touching every public school in every commu- 
nity, that the state is in position to exert supervision and scrutiny over the whole 
system. In the expenditure of this vast sum of nearly two millions of dollars, less than 
eight thousand dollars — four tenths of one per cent — has been devoted to supervision 
at the top. A meagre addition of $7000 was made in 1913. The state superintendent 
has been given neither the organization, nor the power, nor the means for effective 
oversight. It is a matter of simple business judgment that an organization spending 
two millions of dollars a year cannot be run effectively upon such a basis. It will pay a 
state as surely as it will pay a business corporation to invest in constructive thinking 
at the top, and the time has come when the indispensable condition for progress is 
the inauguration of an educational administrative agency etjual to the task. This the 
state alone can do. 

Of the $525,000 now annually expended on education by the state government, 
something more than $100,000 goes to college subsidies, and some $20,000 to the 
present ineffective normal schools. If the state will divert these two sums to the great 
problem of public education in the manner suggested, it will have sufficient means 
to inaugurate an adequate administration and to develop a training-school for ele- 
mentary teachers to supplement the work of the high schools. There are other items 
of expenditure which a wise administration will be able to reduce. In a word, the 
state of Vermont through its state government and its towns is spending to-day 
enough money to inaugurate such a system as is here recommended, if only these 
moneys are devoted intelligently to that purpose. 



PART II 
DESCRIPTION AND DISCUSSION 
I. THE STATE OF VERMONT 
II. THE EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 

III. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

IV. THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

V. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 
VI. VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 
VII. RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS 
VIII. THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 

IX. THE REORGANIZATION OF THE AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 
X. THE VERMONT COLLEGES AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE STATE 
XL THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 
XII. MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 

XIII. NORWICH UNIVERSITY 

XIV. THE HISTORY OF VERMONT SUBSIDIES TO HIGHER EDUCATION 
XV. THE OUTLOOK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN VERMONT 




THE STATE OF VERMONT 



This mapslioirs, hi/the hmrierlines, the. hound- 
aries of Ike countks ; by the lu/hter lines, the 
boundaries of the towns. Only the larger cities 
and the seats of ednrational institutions are 
miirked. 



I 

THE STATE OF VERMONT 

The state of Vermont is in shape a trapezoid, with its longer dimension north and 
south. The western side is the boundary between Vermont and New Yori<, the eastern 
side follows the Connecticut River for some one hundi'ed and fifty miles, the north 
side, some ninety miles in length, is the boundary line of Canada, and the south side, 
forty-three miles long, joins the northwest corner of Massachusetts. Within these 
four approximately straight lines lies an area of 9564 square miles, a little more than 
that of either Massachusetts or Wales, and somewhat less than that of Belgium. Wliile 
possessing no peaks equal to those of the neighboring ^Miite Mountains, Vermont is 
distinctly mountainous, the mean elevation being 1000 feet above the sea. The state 
is traversed in its entire length, a little to west of the centre, by the Green Mountains, 
which have a crest line more than 2000 feet high, with several summits exceeding 
4000 feet. West of these, the Taconic Mountains run in a nearly parallel range from 
the southern border almost to the middle of the state, rising in very irregular masses 
to between 1500 and 2000 feet. North of the Taconic Mountains a series of broken 
uplands slope down to the broad, irregular valley whose bottom is covered by Lake 
Champlain, the water of which, expanding eventually to a breadth of eleven miles, 
separates Vermont from New York for one hundred and thirty miles. Up this valley, 
long the highway of English and French armies, the first settlers penetrated. 

The winters are long and snowy, the summei's so cool as to attract large num- 
bers of vacation visitors. The central mountainous region is naturally the coldest, 
the region surrounding Lake Champlain being somewhat milder than the valley of the 
Connecticut. Eighty-five inches of snow is the average annually for the entire state ; 
the rainfall is abundant. 

The soil on the higher elevations is stony, but cultivation can be carried well up 
the mountain slopes. Lender cultivation, the land is highly productive, especially in 
the valleys and on the lower hills. Vermont was once heavily forested, and although 
the white pine is no longer commercially important, the woodland area was estimated 
in 1890 as still covering 43 per cent of the entire state. 

The inhabitants of Vermont number, according to the federal census of 1910, 
355,956 persons. This gives a density of 39 individuals to the square mile, Vermont 
standing exactly midway among the states of the Union in this respect, and being 
more thinly settled than any country of Europe except Norway. The population is 
almost evenly divided between the rural and urban dwellers, if the federal classifi- 
cation of urban localities as places containing 2500 inhabitants is adopted.' There 
are no large cities; Burlington, on Lake Champlain, containing 20,000 persons, and 
nine other cities and towns having between 5000 and 15,000 inhabitants each." 

' Urban, 168,943 ; rural, 187,013. 

' Burlington, 20,468 ; Rutland, 13,M6: Barre, 10.734 ; Bennington, 8698 i St. Johnsbury, 8098 ; Montpelier, 7856 ; Brattle- 

boro, 7541 ; Colchester, 6460 ; St, Albans, 6381 ; Bellows Falls, 6207. 



20 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The population by successive census enumerations is as follows : 



1790 


85,425 


1800 


154,465 


1810 


217,895 


1820 


235,966 


1830 


280,652 


1840 


291,948 


1850 


314,120 



I860 


315,098 


1870 


330,551 


1880 


332,286 


1890 


332,422 


1900 


343,641 


1910 


355,956 



It will be seen that the population increased rapidly until 1830, when, \nth the 
emigration to the new western lands, the rate of increase became small, until in 1870 
Vermont practically attained a stationary population. 

The growth that has occurred since 18-10 has been in the ten cities and towns that 
contain over five thousand population, the increase between 1900 and 1910 being for 
urban dwellers 13.8 per cent, while for the state at large it was only 3.6 per cent. 

This difference of increase has produced a decided geographical shifting of pop- 
ulation within the state, from the southern to the northern portion, where the forests, 
water power, and mineral resources afford more abundant support. At the end of the 
eighteenth century' two counties on the Connecticut River, ^Vindham and Windsor, 
in which most of the early settlements were made, contained one-third of all the 
inhabitants of the state; if to these two counties those of Rutland and Bennington 
were added, southern Vermont possessed two-thirds of the entire population. In the 
twentieth century^ this southern half contained little more than a third of the state's 
population, the counties of Windham and Windsor having shrunk to a sixth. That 
is, in a little over a century' the southern counties have only doubled in numbers, 
while those north of them have increased nearly tenfold. 

This shift of population has been not only northward, but also westward. The 
entire five counties which touch the Connecticut River,* in which agriculture pre- 
dominates, have actually declined in population.' The state has maintained its 
numbers through the development of manufacturing in the western counties and of 
the quarrying interest in those situated midland. 

The phenomenon of a stationary j)opulation in Vermont is due primarily to the 
extent to which the state has given of her people to the rest of the Union. By 1850 
38.6 per cent of native \'ermonters resided in other states; fifty years later the con- 
tinental United States contained 40.4 per cent of those born in Vermont who had 
emigrated beyond the state. The difference between the periods lies in the fact that 
at the later date a greatly increased proportion of the \'ermont emigrants were to 
be found elsewhere in New England; in the middle of the nineteenth century the 
Vermonter went wider afield. 

This heavy emigration of the native born has been, of course, somewhat counter- 

' Census of 1790. ' Census of 1910. ' From 1790 to 19O0. 

• From south to north ; Windham, Windsor, Orange. Caledonia, and Essex. 

" From 122,798 in 1860 to 112,731 in 1910. 



THE STATE OF VERMONT 21 

balanced by a participation in the waves of immigration into the United States from 
foreign countries, but in a smaller degree in Vermont than in other states except 
those in the south. The census of 1790 showed that 98 per cent of the people of Ver- 
mont were of Anglo-Saxon origin;Mn 1900 three-quarters of the population were still 
natives of the state, and in 1910 86 per cent were natives of the United States, a con- 
dition showing little alteration since 1850.^ The countries whence the foreign bom 
came, had, however, undergone a change in the intervening fifty years. At the middle 
of the nineteenth century half the Vermont residents born outside of the Union were 
natives of Ireland; most of the remainder were English Canadians. By 1900 the Irish 
had declined one-half, the English Canadians had given place to French Canadians, 
and a group of nationalities, Italian, Bohemian, Slavic, Scandinavian, Portuguese, 
unknown fifty years earlier, were appreciably represented. Vermont, however, remains 
to-day overwhelmingly an indigenous community of English-speaking people. 

Partly owing to the fact that when the native of Vermont leaves his state he does 
so in early youth, and partly owing to the curious tendency of a stationary group 
of any kind to show an increasing average age, the state shows an interesting advance 
in the age of the population. In 1850 out of every thousand inhabitants there were 164 
persons above fifty years old; in 1900 there were 272. At the end of the half century 
only SiS more persons could be found in the state under fifty than were there at 
the beginning; the entire increase in population in that length of time had taken 
place among individuals above middle age. Had the same thing held true for the en- 
tire country, the census of 1910 would have shown that the United States contained, 
instead of ten million persons over fifty years old, sixteen millions who had passed 
that point. The emigration from Vermont must have been largely a family emi- 
gration, or latterly comprising many young women going to large cities to earn 
a living, for the census of 1910 showed the population still about equally divided 
between the sexes. 

While during the last half century the other New England states have been 
changing rapidly into industrial communities, Vermont still remains predominantly 
agricultural, more of her population deriving their support from agriculture than 
from any other general occupation,' there being ninety-two farms to every one thou- 
sand inhabitants and 409 farms to every thousand families.* The average acreage 
of the Vermont farms is 142§ acres, and seven-eighths of them are operated by their 
owners directly or through managers ; only one-seventh are let out to tenants.' 

' 81.200 being of English and 2600 of Scotch descent. 

' In 1850 10 per cent were foreign born as against 13 per cent in 1900. The 1910 figures for this and a number of the 
following topics are not yet available. 

' The statistics for 1900 were: agriculture, 49,820; manufacturing, 36,180; trade and transportation, 18,889; profes- 
sional service. 7016. Manufacturing had 38,680 in 1909. 

* In Iowa, generally recognized as decidedly an agricultural community, in 1900, there were 475 farms for every 
one thousand inhabitants. Iowa was the one state in the Union which by the census of 1910 showed a decrease in 
population. 
^ The 1910 statistics are: acres of farm land, 4,663,577; improved acreage, 1,638,696; number of farms, 32,709; num- 



22 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

For more than half of the farms' the principal source of income is dairying, the 
value of the dairy industry reaching in 1909 to $11,501,577 a year, making it the 
largest single industry in Vennont. On about one-sixth of the farms' live stock is 
the principal source of income, and on one-thirteenth of them ^ the proceeds from 
the sale of hay and grain. The cereal crop is of secondary importance, the largest 
single cereal crop being oats, which in 1910 amounted to 2,141,357 bushels/ 

Textile manufactures were introduced into Vermont later than in the rest of New 
England, and still are surpassed in importance by those manufacturing interests 
connected with the lumber industry, although the relative position of the two kinds of 
manufacturing shows signs of a future reversal, as the yield of the Vermont forests 
decreases, and as the excellent water power that exists in many localities throughout 
the state is utilized. In 1909 the value of the textile product was more than $6,250,000, 
and the value of the lumber industries, including that of paper-making and wood- 
pulp, was $12,800,000.5 

A considerable proportion of the wealth of Vermont is due to mines, whose prod- 
ucts in 1911 sold for $8,434',576. The largest item in this budget is that derived 
from the quairies of the Taconic Mountains, whose marbles, ranging from Carrara 
white to various shades of blue, green, yellow, and pink, gleam from the walls of 
most public structures in the United States, Vermont in 1908 supplying more mar- 
bles than all other states combined, or even than Italy itself. The value in 1911 of 
the marble was $3,34-9,930;'^ of the Vermont granite, upon which the city of Barre 
is entirely dependent, $2,730,719; and of the slate production, $1,624,941. 

The state possesses much accumulated wealth. In few communities is the general 
body of citizens so free from want. 

Vermont is well supplied with railroad transportation, the Boston and Maine sys- 
tem paralleling the banks of the Connecticut River and the New York Central system 
running up the western section to the Canadian line, while both of these systems and 
the Central Vermont and the Grand Trunk of Canada run east and west through the 
mountains. Vermont thus has outlets for its products through New York, Boston, 
and Portland, and through St. John and Montreal. During seven months of each 
year there is also communication by water. Lake Champlain being connected by the 
Cliamplain Canal with the Hudson and by the Chambly Canal with the St. Law- 
rence. Within the last few years the public highways of the state have been greatly 
improved under a policy of state appropriation combined with local taxation. 

bcr operated by owners or managers, 28.701; number operated by tenants, 4008. The detailed figures for 1910 for acre- 

ase per farm were ; 

over 500 acres 607 farms between 60 and 100 acres 5.910 farms 

between 175 and 600 acres 8,610 farms between 20 and 60 acres 3,481 farms 

between 100 and 175 acres 9,492 farms less than 20 acres 4,678 farms 

' 16,354, ' 5451, ' 2516. * Produced on 71,510 acres, and valued at $1,169,223, 

" Distributed as follows: lumber and timber products, $8,598,000 : paper-makinsr and wootl-pulp. centralized around 

Bellows Falls, $3,902,000. 

" The marble product of the rest of the Union for 1908 was $3,063,960; of Italy, 18,926,239 lire = $3,761,248. 



THE STATE OF VERMONT 23 

The advance of settlement from the coast of New England to the Vermont moun- 
tains was so arduous that it took one hundred years, and the country filled slowly, 
as, until the conquest of Canada laid the fear of French and Indian invasions, only 
the most hardy would venture into what was the colonies' most exposed frontier. As 
settlements multiplied, the pioneers were forced to maintain a contest for local inde- 
pendence, first with Massachusetts, then with New Hampshire, and finally with New 
York. Although capturing Ticonderoga and driving out the English at the begin- 
ning of the Revolutionary War, the opposition of New York pre^'ented Vermont from 
being recognized by the Continental Congress, and from the end of the war until the 
organization of the present federal government, Vermont acted as an independent 
republic outside of the jurisdiction of Congress and preparing to resist New York's 
claims by force. One of the first acts of Washington's administration was to induce 
New York to relinquish its claims, and as soon as this renunciation was secured, Con- 
gress made the first addition to the original thirteen states by admitting Vermont 
as a member of the Union in 1791. 

Vermont troops took part in the military operations upon the Canadian border 
during the War of 1812, and as large a proportion of the population enlisted in the 
Civil War as in any northern state. The strength of the state in presidential contests 
and in Congress, generally on the conservative side in the early elections, was thrown 
uninterruptedly with the Whigs from 1832 until the disappearance of their party, 
and since the formation of the Republican party has been continuously upon its side. 

The conspicuous feature in the government of Vermont is that the lower house of 
the legislature is composed of one member from each town and city, of which there 
are 246, the town of the city of Burlington, with a population of over twenty thou- 
sand, having the same representation as the town of Somerset, with twenty-seven. 
Connecticut is the only other state which approaches this equal territorial represen- 
tation in the lower house, although New Jersey and Maryland use a similar basis 
for constituting the senate. The senate, composed of thirty members, is elected by 
counties in proportion to population, each county, however, being entitled to at 
least one senator. 

The executive authority is vested solely in the governor, who has the power of nega- 
tive on all legislation, but may be overruled by a two-thirds vote of the members 
present in each house ; he also possesses a limited power of appointment and has exclu- 
sive power of pardon. The term of the governorship is two years, and unless a can- 
didate receives a majority of all the votes cast by the people, the election is made 
by the legislature in joint session. Several other administrative officials are elected in 
the first instance in joint session. 

The judicial authority is vested in a supreme court of five justices, in county courts 
composed of a presiding judge (a superior judge, of whom there are seven) and two 
assistant judges, in a court of chancery, and in inferior municipal and justice courts. 
Justices of the supreme court and the superior judges are elected biennially by the 



24 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

legislature in joint session. Assistant judges of the county courts and justices of the 
peace are elected biennially by the freemen of their respective counties. Judges of the 
municipal courts are appointed by the governor. The superior judges are also chan- 
cellors of the court of chancery. 

This distribution of the powers of government is made by the constitution of 
1793, which has, however, received thirty-three amendments, the first in 1828 and 
the last in 1913. At the fifth biennial session of the General Assembly following that 
of 1910, and at the session thereof every tenth year thereafter, the senate may, by 
a two-thirds vote, make proposals of amendment to the constitution, which propos- 
als, if concurred in by a majority of the members of the House of Representatives, 
are submitted to the ensuing legislature. If each house again approves, the proposed 
amendment is submitted to the people, and a majority vote in its favor makes it 
a part of the constitution. 

The unit of local government, as well as of representation in the lower branch of 
the legislature, is the town.' The town is governed by a board of selectmen; the more 
important administrative officials are a clerk, a treasurer, a board of listers, one or 
two road commissioners, and a board of school directors. Although villages may be- 
come public corporations under the general law, yet more generally it has been by 
special act of the legislature.^ The more important officials of a village are a board 
of trustees, a clerk, a treasurer, and a collector of taxes. 

The county,' so important in the local administration of states outside of NewEng- 
land, is hardly more than a geographical expression in Vermont except in judicial 
matters. It merely groups the electorate for senatorial elections and tlie election of 
officials concerned with the administration of justice — the sheriff, the prosecuting 
attorney, and the assistant judges. The assistant judges appoint the county treasurer, 
and exercise the meagre county jurisdiction that exists. 

Vermont has practically no debt except the outstanding bonds representing the 
$135,000 received from the federal government in 1862 for the support of an agri- 
cultural college and the Huntington (school) Fund of $211,000. The total expendi- 
ture of the treasury of Vermont in the fiscal year 1911-12 was $2,350,508. The total 
income was $2,303,754, the deficit being supplied from the balance in the treasury, 
which at the beginning of the fiscal year stood at $566,141. 

The salient facts concerning the commonwealth thus briefly brought together show 
in outline a state with no large cities, whose chief industry is agriculture, with the 
probability that an increasing development in manufacture may be anticipated. It 
is a community overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon in its origin and characteristics, and 
the problems of education with which it has to deal are those of a large rural agri- 
cultural and a small urban population, closely related. 



' There are alsod cities, S unorganized townships, 4 gores, and 1 grant, 
* There are B6 villages, * There are 14 counties. 



II 

THE EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 

This section considers: (1) the number and nature of the various educational agen- 
cies in the state; (2) their general administration and (3) supervision; (4) school 
privileges and attendance ; (5) the teaching staff; and, finally, (6) the finances of the 
whole. It is based upon whatever statistical information is available in print, cor- 
rected and supplemented by the enquiries of the commission and the knowledge of 
the members of the enquiry staff. Section VII of Part II deals with the characteris- 
tics of present reports. 

1. The Schools 

The existing educational system includes tax-supported elementary and secondary 
schools, approved academies receiving public support as secondary schools, schools 
for special purposes, schools for special classes, higher and professional institutions, 
and certain supplementary educational activities. 

In 1912 there were about 2400 public elementary schools,' of which more than half 
were one-room, chiefly rural, schools. Only 979, or about two-fifths, of these elemen- 
tary schools were graded. The superintendent of education reports the existence of 
fourteen public kindergartens. 

As nearly as can be ascertained from the reports of the state superintendent of 
education, the number of children attending the public elementary schools is about 
57,000, divided almost equally between boys and girls. ^ 

Two hundred and fifty schools had, during the last term of school of 1912, less 
than eight pupils, 522 from eight to fifteen pupils, 743 from sixteen to twenty-five 
pupils, and 946 more than twenty-five pupils. 

There were in the state in 1912, according to the state school census, 46,333 chil- 
dren between eight and fifteen years of age, inclusive, the period of compulsory school 
attendance; of these, 43,119 children (93 per cent) were reported in attendance upon 
schools. 

' The report of the state superintendent of education gives 2461 public schools, which apparently include from 77 to 
80 high schools. The word "school" in Vermont does not mean "schoolhouse," but ordinarily means "school-room." 
Vermont's legal definition of a school beingCNo. 76, Actsof 1912)t "The term 'legal school' shall apply to any public 
school maintained at least one hundred and fifty days, including holidays and others allowed by law, during any 
school year, unless it has been impracticable to maintain the same such number of days on account of the closing 
of said school by the local health officer because of an epidemic, and in which the average attendance during ses- 
sions thereof was not less than six, and which was taught by a duly qualified and legally certified teacher, and the 
register of which was kept and returned according to law. 

"The term 'rural school' shall apply, in the distribution of school funds, to any school in a separate building and 
which furnishes instruction in no less than six of the nine years of the course prescribed for elementary schools, or 
to any school of a system of not more than three schools which together provide instruction covering the nine years 
of such prescribed course." In 1912 there were 2397 such legal schools. 

' The superintendent reports 64,618 pupils in the public schools, — 32,624 boys and 31,194 girls. This last figure should 
be 31,994. This total probably includes the pupils in the secondary schools, variously given as 5653 or 64% in the high 
schools, andl4Jl in the academies. These discrepancies are characteristic of the superintendent's reports ; the returns 
to his ofBce are frequently inaccurate, and his staff is too small to ensure accuracy or to make special enquiries. 



26 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

In 1912 there were seventy-four approved high schools and eighteen approved 
academies. AVhile the recorded statistics vary somewhat, it appears that, for the year 
1911-12, 5496 pupils were in attendance upon the approved high schools (19-12 first 
year pupils, 14<14 second year pupils, 1105 third year pupils, 919 fourth year pupils, 
and 71 graduate pupils).' During 1911-12, 1633 academic pupils attended the ap- 
proved academies. Of this number l¥2l resided in V^ermont. Tiie town clerks reported 
the payment by the towns of 1272 high school and 960 academy tuitions.^ 

A State School of Agriculture, a school of secondary instruction, is located at Ran- 
dolph Centre. It was established by the legislature in 1910, taking the place of the 
Randolph State Normal School, which was discontinued in that year. The school offers 
a one-year course, a two-year course, a short winter course, and special courses in agri- 
culture. During 1911-12, fifty-six young men were in attendance; during 1912-13, 
eighty-three. 

A second school of this type was authorized by the legislature of 1912 to be 
located in Addison or Rutland County, as approved by the governor and the edu- 
cational commission. 

Since 1910 classes for the training of elementary school teachers have been con- 
ducted in connection with high schools. There were 12 such training-classes in 1911-12 
and 14 in 1912-13, the latter enrolling 152 students. 

The state maintains two state normal schools, one at Castleton enrolling 87 stu- 
dents in 1911-12, and one at Johnson enrolling 56 students in that year. Previous 
to 1910 a normal school was maintained at Randolph also. 

There are four chartered higher institutions — the University of Vermont and State 
Agricultui-al College, located at Burlington, Middlebury College at Middlebury, Nor- 
wich University at Northfield, and St. IMichaePs College at Burlington. Sti'ictly speak- 
ing, no one of these institutions belongs to the state public school system, each being 
under an independent board of trustees. The first three institutions receive annual 
grants from the state treasury. In these three institutions there were for the year 
1912-13, 1013 students. 

A State Industrial School, to which delinquent boys and girls are committed, 
has been maintained at Vergennes since 1865. This school is under the control of the 
Board of Penal Institutions. On July 1, 1912, the number of pupils in the school was 
145 boys and 62 girls. The total number of commitments to the institution since 
its organization have been 2000 boys and 351 girls, a total of 2351.^ 

The state has no special institution for the education of defectives, nie governor, 
by virtue of his office, is commissioner of the deaf and dumb, bhnd, idiotic, feeble- 
minded, and epileptic children of indigent parents, and as such commissioner is charged 

' The total Mye docs not correspond with the sum of the pupils by years, 5451; or by courses, 5287. 

* The principals reported 1055 and 718, respectively. 

' It is recommended in Section IX that the control of the State Industrial School be transferred from the Board of 

Penal Institutions to the State Board of Education. 



THE EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 27 

with their instruction. The state appropriates $30,000 annually for the benefit of these 
children. They are instructed mostly in institutions in neighboring states. The legis- 
lature of 1912 created a state school for feeble-minded children, and appropriated 
$25,000 for this purpose. The same legislature appropriated $25,000 to the Austine 
Institution, a private corporation for the care and education of defective and unfor- 
tunate children, which had received $50,000 from the state in 1911. 

The principal supplementary educational activity is that under the direction of the 
State Board of Library Commissioners, which serves in an advisory capacity to local 
libraries, holds schools of instruction for librarians, and has general supervision of 
the state aid granted to local libraries. This board also has charge of the traveling 
libraries. 

2. General Administration 

There is no central educational administration that touches all of these educa- 
tional agencies. The tax-supported elementary and secondary schools, while con- 
ducted by the towns, receive nevertheless some appropriation from the state, so that 
the state superintendent of education has a certain power of sci-utiny and super- 
vision. The administration of the normal schools and of the higher institutions is 
practically independent in each case, so that there is nowhere in the state system 
of education any administrative body or set of officers whose business it is to deal 
with these institutions as a whole. In the absence of such administrative oversight 
the studies and the conditions of admission prescribed by the colleges have been the 
strongest single factor in determining what should be studied not only by those who 
expect to go to college, but by the great body of students in the elementary and 
secondary schools. 

The governmental unit of Vermont being the town, the chief governmental agen- 
cies for the control of public elementary and secondary schools are town officials. Each 
towTi constitutes a district for school purposes, and has a board of directors consist- 
ing of three citizens of the town, one of whom is elected for a term of three years 
at each annual meeting of the town. The board elects one of its members as chair- 
man and appoints a clerk. The duties of the board include the general management 
of the schools, ^ care of the school property of the town, the determination of 
the number and the location of the schools, the suitable repair and insurance of the 
schoolhouses, the employment of teachers and the fixing of their compensation, the 
examination and allowances of claims arising therefrom, and the drawing of orders 
on the town treasurer in payment thereof. They also have authority to designate the 
schools that the various pupils shall attend, and make regulations not inconsistent 
with the law for carrying into effect the powers granted them. They are required 
to furnish an estimate to the town meeting of the amount of money required for 
the use of the schools and to make an annual report to the towns. The compensation 
of the directors is such sum as the town votes for the time they actually spend in 



28 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

the performance of their duties. The usual amount is two dollars per day or fraction 
thereof. 

While the town is the typical school administrative unit, one interesting exception 
should be noticed. The town system became optional in 1870 and mandatory in 1892. 
In the interval many of the towns changed from the old district system to the town 
system of control. At first, however, if we may judge from the reports of town su- 
perintendents, there was considerable suspicion of the system. This was particularly 
true of the larger centres of population — places that had developed under the dis- 
trict system comparatively strong graded school systems, and now feared that under 
the new system they would be taxed for the support of the rest of the schools in the 
town at the expense of weakening their own schools or of increasing their taxes un- 
duly. They feared also that they might lose direct control of their own school affairs. 
A protection against these supposed dangers was found in incoi-porating these centres 
by special acts of the legislature, as distinct special districts for school purposes. There 
are at present thirty of these incorporated districts in the state. They have their own 
boards of directors, support their schools on taxation of the property within their 
corporate limits, receive a portion of the public money that would otherwise go to the 
towns in which they are located, and deal with the town in the matter of tuition of ad- 
vanced pupils, just as one town deals with another. There is nothing to indicate that 
the fears which led to such separate incorporation were well founded. Almost without 
exception the incorporated districts would improve their school income and attendance 
by a recombination with their towns. The towns, on the other hand, would profit by 
improved school facilities. There is no reason to believe that the towns in which the.se 
incorporated districts now exist would be more backward than other towns in interest 
and pride in an efficient central school. 

The local educational officer, the town superintendent of schools, is appointed an- 
nually by the board of school directors at a compensation determined by them. In 
case towns form a union, the local educational officer is the union superintendent, 
who is elected, and whose salary is fixed, by a committee composed of the school direc- 
tors of the towns forming the union. The formal duties of the superintendent are 
to visit the schools of the town at least once each term, and oftener if the board of 
school directors or the joint committee so orders, to note the method of instruction 
and government, to inform himself of the progress of pupils, and to give necessary 
advice to teachers. The superintendent also has power to dismiss incompetent or 
unfit teachers. 

Provision has existed since 1906 for the union of towns for supervision. In such 
cases of union, the state grants a stipulated portion of the salary paid the superin- 
tendents. The qualifications of union superintendents are also defined by law, and 
their appointment is subject to the approval of the state board of education. 

The chief administrative agency for the state school system is the state board of 



THE EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 29 

education, created by the legislature of 1912. This board will hereafter appoint the 
superintendent of education, who has hitherto been elected by the legislature. 

The state board of education, composed of five members appointed by the governor 
and the senate for a term of six year.s, is given general powers and duties with regard 
to the educational system of the state, particularly with regard to normal schools, 
which are entirely under its charge; to colleges and universities as to expenditures of 
state appropriations; to high schools as to classification and standard, qualifications 
of teachers, courses of instruction, and so on. This board also has genei'al control of 
union superintendents. 

The superintendent of education is the executive officer of the board of education, 
and has supervision over all of the educational work in the state with the special ex- 
ceptions noted for the board of education. He makes formal reports to the board with 
recommendations for improving educational conditions, disburses the funds appropi-i- 
ated for summer schools, educational meetings, and agricultural instruction ; examines 
and certifies teachers, etc. 

Each of the several special and higher institutions of education has its own board 
of control. The constitution and powers of these boards are discussed in later sections. 



3. Supervision 

The superintendent of education is the chief supervisory officer of the educational 
system; the immediate supervision of local schools is carried on by town and union 
school superintendents. On August 1, 1912, there were 55 supervisory unions and two 
special school districts under superintendents (55 men and 2 women). Sixteen of these 
superintendents assumed their present positions during 1912, four during 1911, nine 
during 1910, ten during 1909, two during 1908, ten during 1907, and four previous to 
1907 (two records missing). Their annual salaries vary from less than $1250 to more 
than $2500; one-third receiving from $1250 to $1500 and slightly more than one- 
third receiving from $1500 to $1750.^ 

As a group these superintendents are young men and women, 38 out of the 55 be- 
ing below forty years of age. With half a dozen exceptions, all of the superintendents 
have had the equivalent of a three or four year high school education; fourteen have 
had one or two years of normal school training; thirty-six are college graduates, and 
ten others have had one or two years of college study. Practically all have had a teach- 
ing experience of from one to five years in rural schools and a somewhat longer expe- 
rience in high schools, but practically all of them began their work as superintendents 
without previous supervisory experience. In the majority of instances they transfeiTed 
directly from a secondary school position. 



' Information from commission's enquiry ; for details, s 



30 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

4. School Privileges and Aitendance 

The public elementary schools of the state have been free since 1867. Since 1894 
the state has sought to ec[ua]ize the privileges of education by providing aid for 
the transportation and board of pupils. 

Each town is legally obliged to maintain a high school or to furnish higher (sec- 
ondary) instruction for its advanced pupils, by arranging for the instruction of such 
advanced pupils in the high school of an incorporated district, or an academy within 
the town, or in the high schools or academies of other towns within or without the 
state. 

Children between the ages of eight and fifteen years, inclusive, are subject to the 
compulsory attendance law. The annual period of required attendance is one hundred 
and fifty days, including legal and other holidays. Children under sixteen years of age 
who have not completed the course of study of nine years prepared for the elementary 
schools by the superintendent of education may not be employed in any work con- 
nected with railroading, mining, manufacturing, or quarrying, or be employed in any 
hotel or bowling alley or in delivering messages, except during vacations or before 
and after school hours. No child under fourteen years of age may be employed by any 
railroad company or in connection with any mill, factory, quarry, or workshop where 
more than ten persons are employed. No child under the age of twelve is permitted to 
be employed in or about or in connection with any mill, factory, quarry, workshop, or 
in delivering messages for any corporation or company, or in any mercantile establish- 
ment, store, business office, restaurant, bakery, or hotel. 

Pupils in elementary schools are provided, at the expense of the town, with all 
appliances, supplies, and text-books. Towns may provide free text-books for second- 
ary schools. 



5. The Teaching Staff: Training, Certification, Experience, and Salaries' 
The situation for the teaching staff of the public schools of the state is exhibited, 
as to its larger aspects, by comparative tables in Part III and the following general 
statistics taken from the report of the superintendent of education for 1912: 

Hie Number and Trahiiiig of Elementary and Secondary Teachers 

in Vermont Public Schools in lOliJ 

Number of men teachers 256 

Number of women teachers 2,735 

Total number of different teachers 2,P91 

Number of teachers who are graduates of Vermont normal schools 6fil 

Number of teachers not graduated, who have attended state normal schools 1 ()4 

* The principal data contained in this section are based upon the special information furnished by teachers in ser- 
vice, April, 1913, at the request of the educational commission. 



THE EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 31 

Number of teachers who are graduates of normal schools of other states 133 

Number of teachers who are graduates of colleges 245 

Number of teachers who are graduates of high schools and academies 1)947 
Number of teachers not graduates, who have attended college, high schools, 

or academies 568 

Since 1908 the examination and certification of teachers have been under the direct 
control of the superintendent of education. Under him town and union superin- 
tendents conduct teachers' examinations and rate applicants for teachers' certificates. 
The minimum age for certification is seventeen years. 

The existing system provides for several grades of limited certificates. 

(a) First Grade. Granted for five years, or as long as the holder is employed con- 
tinuously in the same town, and requiring forty weeks of experience in addi- 
tion to passing the stated examination. Issued without examination to college 
graduates and graduates of normal schools in other states. 

[b) Second Grade. Granted for two yeare, or as long as the holder is employed 
continuously in the same town, and requiring twelve weeks of experience in addi- 
tion to passing the stated examination. 

(f) Third Grade. Granted for a specified time, not exceeding one year, to those 
who pass a satisfactory examination. Third grade certificates may not be re- 
newed more than once. 

(d) Special. Issued by the superintendent of education, without examination, to 
trained and experienced teachers of such special high school subjects as music, 
drawing, physical culture, industrial arts and sciences. 

{e) Special Third Grade. Valid for one year; issued without examination to 
teachers with fifty weeks of experience, or to teachers with experience (twenty 
weeks) who have held a second grade certificate or its equivalent. 

Graduates of the high school training-classes, if previously holders of diplomas, and 
of the lower course in the normal schools are given five-year certificates; seniors in 
training-classes are given four-year certificates; and graduates of the higher course 
are given certificates for ten years. Each of these is renewable for a like period. Un- 
limited or life cei'tificates are provided for teachers with specified experience and for 
experienced graduates of colleges or normal schools; certificates valid for five years 
are granted to teachers in primary grades and in the kindergarten. These may also 
be issued by the superintendent of education without examination to teachers with 
defined training and experience. 

The superintendent of education is authorized by law to issue permits to teach in 
a particular school for a term not exceeding twelve weeks, on the basis of private exam- 
inations conducted by town superintendents. A second permit may not be issued to 
a teacher. 

The following table shows the number of the various kinds of certificates held by 
teachers in the public schools for 1912: 



32 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 



Kind of Certificates 


No. of Teachers HoUVnig 


Kind of Certificates 


No. of Teachers Holding 


Permit 


io 


1st 


513 


Special 


15 


2d 


953 


Life and Normal 


210 


3d 


443 



According to information concerning the teaching staff of the Vermont public 
schools furnished to the educational commission during April, 1913, the teachers 
vary in age from sixteen to seventy years. Thirty-five are under eighteen and forty- 
eight over fifty. One-fifth are nineteen or less and about one-fifth thirty-one or more, 
the remainder, rather more than one-half of the whole number, being from twenty 
to thirty.^ The teaching experience of both city and rural teachers varies from one- 
third of a year to twenty-nine years, but while the majority of the city teachers liave 
had from four to fourteen years, the majority of the rural teachers have had only 
half as much, — from two to seven years.^ About one-fourth of the city teachers receive 
less than $400 a year and only about one-fourth receive more than S500; the majority 
get between $400 and $500. Similarly, the majority of the rural teachers get from 
$250 to $350. 

6. I'l NANCES 

The common schools (elementary and secondary) of the state have two principal 
sources of income: (a) local taxation and (b) state funds. Local taxes are levied upon 
the grand list {I.e., one per cent of the assessed valuation of real and personal prop- 
erty, plus the ratable polls). The local tax rate for school purposes, exclusive of the 
state tax of eight per cent, varied in 1912 from twenty cents on the dollar of the grand 
list, the minimum permitted by law, to one hunch-ed and twenty-five cents. The average 
rate for the entire state for that year was sixty -one cents. 

The state tax of eight per cent is assessed annually upon the grand list,^ and after 
receipt at the state treasury was, up to the passage of the School Fund Consolidation 
Act of 1913, apportioned by the board of education* and paid to the several towns 
and cities in proportion to the number of legal schools maintained during the pre- 
ceding school year; .$45,000 being deducted from the total in making the general 
apportionment and divided among towns raising fifty cents or more on the dollar 
of the grand list for school purposes. From this and a $15,000 reserve of the income 
of the permanent school fund, an amount was paid these towns in 1912 sufficient to 
provide one-fourth of such excess above fifty cents on the dollar. 

A permanent public school fund was constituted in 1906. This fund consists of 
the sum of $240,000 returned by the federal government to the state in settlement 
of Civil War claims, together with the so-called Huntington Fund, the United States 

' For details, see Part III. ' For details, see Part III. » Public Statutes, section 1091. 

* In accordance with the provisions of sections 1095 and 1096 of the Public Statutes, as amended by Nos. 34 and 47 
of the Acts of 1908. 



THE EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 33 

deposit money, and certain other additions. The governor, Heutenant-governor, state 
treasurer, and superintendent of education, f.r qfficu.s, and other persons appointed 
biennially by the governor, constitute the board of trustees of this permanent fund. 
The income from the permanent school fund, exclusive of the $15,000 reserve referred 
to above, was divided among the towns, cities, and unorganized units, according to 
the number of legal schools maintained during the preceding year. 

In addition to the eight per cent tax and the income from the permanent school 
fund, the state, until the law of 1913, made a number of appropriations in aid of 
special public school purposes, the more important of which w ere for the partial pay- 
ment of the salaries of union superintendents ; for teachers' training courses in high 
schools; for manual training courses in high schools; for transportation and board 
of pupils; and for advanced (high school) instruction. 

By the terms of the School Fund Consolidation Act, approved February 22, 1913, 
the proceeds of the eight per cent state tax and of the permanent school fund were 
combined, together with an annual appropriation of $50,000, to form a fund for 
apportionment and distribution among the various towns. 

Tables showing the receipts and expenditures from 1862 to 1912, inclusive, are 
given in Part III. The educational interests of the state other than the common 
schools are maintained by appropriations from the general income of the state. 

The following items of state expenditure for educational purposes in 1912 are 
quoted from the report of the auditor of accounts : 

A dm inistration 

Bute Board of Education $916.64 

State Superintendent* 7,654.93 

Union Superintendents 39,888.20 

Improvement of Teachers 

State Teachers' Association $200.00 

Summer Schools 900.00 

Educational Meetings 819.68 

Common Schools 

State School Tax $l6.5,602.l6 

Permanent School Fund 51,800.75 

Transportation 20,000.00 

Manual training 750.00 

Tuition payments for higher instruction of about S30,000 were omitted in 1912, 
but were authorized later. 

Agricultural Education 
State School of Agriculture $25,580.54 

' Including superintendent's salary, $2000. 



34 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Defectives and Delinquents 
Austine Institution $5,000,00 

State Beneficiaries 18,059.76 

Training of Teachers 
Normal Schools $39,888.20 

Higher and Professional Education 

University of Vermont and State Agricultural College i $76,000.00 

Middlebury College 16,000.00 

Norwich University 11,000.00 

Libraries 

State Library $8,079.77 

State Aid to Libraries 2,809-92 

Library Commissioners 2,809.86 

Traveling Libraries 1,400.00 

The following totals of educational expenditure in the state in 1912 are quoted 
from the report of the state superintendent : 



Superintendents 


$77,005.12 




School directors 


11,04.6.59 




Truant officers 


3,511.14 




Medical inspectors 


326.23 




Teachers 


968,382.35 




Transportation and board of pupils 


101,167.23 




Advanced tuitions 


54,136.18 




Elementary tuitions 


11,241.17 




Text-books 


41,020.50 




Supplies and appliances 


46,419.30 




Furniture 


13,116.69 




Repairs 


66,452.97 




Water, fuel, and ligiit 


85,997.68 




Janitors and laborers 


67,394.30 




Insurance and rent 


15,990.01 




Indebtedness on current expenses of previous year 


61,632.74 




Miscellaneous 


47,869.15 




Aggregate of current expenses 




$1,672,709.35 


New buildings 


$204,191.40 




Notes and bonds for new buildings 


38,443.52 


242,634.92 


Aggregate school expenditures 




$1,915,344.27 


Percentage of valuation required for schools 




.59 


Average (current) cost per pupil (enrolled) 




$25.94 



(For secondary pupil, $42.21 ; for elementary pupils, $24.85.) 
' Including $60,000 from the federal government. 



THE EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 35 

In a recent comparative study of the public school systems of all of the states of 
the Union ' Vermont occupied the first place among the states in the proportion of 
children enrolled in school, fifth place in average attendance per child, nintli in the 
percentage of the public wealth expended for schools, fourteenth in the average ex- 
penditure per child, fifteenth in the average value per child of public school property, 
twenty-second in the number of days the schools were open during the year, twenty- 
fourth in the cost of a day's schooling for a child, and forty-third in the average 
annual salary of public school teachers. 

Because of the variable and incomplete character of the statistics that go to make 
up such comparisons, their results are merely suggestive. The attitude of Vermont 
in inaugurating and cooperating with this enquiry indicates that the state desires the 
best results that are possible, irrespective of comparisons with other states. 



' Russell Sage Foundation, Division of Education, Bulletin No. 124, New York, December, 1912. 



Ill 

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

This section discusses the following topics: 1. The Sources of Information; 2. Stand- 
ards of Judgment; and 3. The Scope and Character of Elementary Education in 
Vermont, including (n) the administration of school affairs, (b) the ages and attendance 
of pupils, (c) the teachers, (d) the state course of study, (c) the character of the instruc- 
tion, (f) the extent and character of the supervision, (g^) the conditions of school 
grounds, buildings, and equipment, in both (1) rural and (2) graded schools, (h) sup- 
plies, and (?) the consolidation of rural schools ; and, finally, 4. Recommendations. 

I. Sources of Information 

The conclusions to be found in this section are based almost entirely on impres- 
sions gained in visiting two hundred Vermont schools and observing the work of two 
hundred and twenty teachers, from a study of the registers of all of the schools in 
two hundred and two towns, from the printed reports of the state and towns, and 
from many interviews. A form calling for certain information regarding their train- 
ing, salary, and experience was sent to each elementary school teacher in the state, 
and twenty-two hundred replies were received and studied. Finally, there were the 
suggestions of nearly one thousand representative citizens sent in response to enquiries 
from the commission. The week following March 21 was devoted to an examination 
of the records to be found in the state superintendent's office, and to visiting six of 
the union superintendents, in order to gain a conception of the spirit of the school 
system and to learn what facts were readily available. 

It happened that the schools had vacation during the next two weeks, so that this 
time, April 1 to 15, was devoted to a study of "The Teacher's Manual for Use in the 
Elementary Schools" and the different courses of study that had been obtained. When 
the schools were again in session a supervisory union or district was selected and three 
days were devoted to an intensive examination of the attendance of pupils, the courses 
of study, the quality of instruction, the extent and character of supervision, and the 
general condition of the school buildings and equipment. Especial attention was given 
to the rural schools. Of the twenty-three teachers visited during these davs, thirteen 
were in one-room schools. From this time until the schools closed in the early part of 
June, visits were so planned that all parts of the state were seen and every type of school 
and community was observed. In all, forty-five days were spent in visiting schools. The 
difficulty of travel made brief visits necessary in some schools, but many recitations 
in each subject were observed. It may reasonably be assumed that neither the very 
best nor the very poorest schools were seen. A sufficient proportion, however, of all the 
schools and teachers were visited to give an adequate general conception of the actual 
condition and operation of the schools. The conclusions reached in this way have been 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 37 

verified in every possible manner. Not only were teachers, superintendents, and other 
school officers freely consulted, but also merchants, doctors, and others whose relation 
to their communities gave them opportunity to know and to judge the schools wisely. 
During the last weeks of March the town clerks were asked to send the registers of 
the school year 1911—12 to the secretary of the commission. The registers from two 
hundred and two of the two hundred and fortv-six towns and cities in the state were 
so forwarded. From these registers it was possible to determine the regularity of the 
pupils' attendance, the ages of pupils, the number of inexperienced teachers, the num- 
ber of teachers who are new to their schools, the certificates of the teachers, and the 
number of visits made by the superintendent. 



2. Standards of Judgmekt 

At the very beginning of such an enquiry it is necessary to decide upon at least 
some of the standards that shall be employed in judging the schools, as tliese stand- 
ards determine the initial selection of facts for study and the approach to them. 

One standard that is often used is based upon customary or general practice. Thus, 
if the various states are arranged in the order of their per capita expense for educa- 
tion, a glance will show the relative position of any state in this particular. Among 
the topics that are judged by this comparative standard are the attendance of pupils, 
the emphasis put upon various subjects as shown by time allotments, and the topics 
treated in the course of study ; the efficiency of the teaching force as shown by the 
training, experience, and salaries of teachers, and the general efficiency of the schools 
as shown by the percentages of those who remain in school and of those who pass 
regularly from grade to grade. The quality of instruction is sometimes judged on 
the basis of examination marks obtained bv pupils in one school as compared with 
those secured by pupils who take the same examinations in other schools. 

This comparative standard has the merit of defiiiiteness. It also keeps attention 
focused upon actual practice, and may thus avoid the influence of opinion and theory. 
When applied to any particular school or system of schools, however, this standard 
has certain decided defects. As it is in part derived from the very facts that it is in- 
tended to measure, the helpfulness of judgments reached in this way must depend upon 
the extent to which the systems that are compared embody proper principles. Such a 
standard, further, assists in presenting facts, but it does not interpret them, so that 
the defects discovered in this way are too often merely effects rather than the causes. 
Moreover, it emphasizes uniformity without due consideration of the conditions that 
should legitimately produce variation. It is likely to test pupils for their knowledge 
of school subjects rather than for their ability to deal with facts. Finally, the con- 
clusions reached by the use of this standard are likely to cause undue self-satisfaction 
among the systems that rank high in any particulars, although they may yet be in 
very great need of improvement. 



38 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Occasionally those who have had large experience either in conducting schools or in 
observing and studying educational conditions have been asked testate their opinion 
regarding the efficiency of a given school or system of schools. Their conclusions are 
valid only to the extent to which they are able to gain knowledge of all of the con- 
ditions which affect the schools in question. Neither measurement nor judgment is 
independent of the other, and both are dependent upon fundamental principles. 

In judging the efficiency of elementary education in Vermont, therefore, no single 
method has been used exclusively. Some features of the system have been compared 
with similar features in other states. Sometimes opinions based upon experience with 
school conditions have been given. Mainly, however, reliance has been placed upon 
the application of standards that grow out of the essential purpose of the school. This 
method has the advantage of applying the same kind of standard that the pul)lic uses 
when it judges the efficiency of the schools. Its conclusions point the way to improve- 
ment. 

The purpose of the public elementary school cannot be other than assistance in 
developing character and making good citizens. On this ground alone can the expendi- 
ture of public money for schools be justified. The standards that are largely used in 
this part of the report grow out of this conception of the purpose of the elementary 
school. They are briefly stated here; their application will be found in the section deal- 
ing with the criticism of elementary education: 

1. Schools should recognize the varying abilities, experiences, and environment 
of the children. 

2. Schools should recognize both the present and the future needs of the chil- 
dren. 

3. The knowledge gained in school should be so organized that the children 
can use it. 

4. In so far as the state assumes the responsibility for elementary education, the 
educational opportunities should be as nearly uniform throughout the state as 
conditions will permit. 



3. The Scope and CuAR.\rTER ok Elementahy Education in Vermont 
(a) The Administration of School Affairs 
Since 1892 the administrative unit for school affairs in Vermont has been the towTi, 
a territory in general about six miles square, which corresponds to the township in 
other New England states. Prior to 1870 control rested with the districts; the legisla- 
ture of that year enacted laws allowing the present town system, but it was not com- 
pulsory until 1892. The school affairs of the town are administered bv a board of 
school directors of three members, whose election, organization, duties, and compen- 
sation are described on page 27. Very few directors concern themselves with the inter- 
nal affairs of the schools, except to encourage and assist the teachers and superin- 



THE ELEIVIENTARY SCHOOLS 39 

tendents. Occasionally, however, a director undertakes to control the discipline of the 
school, to dictate the methods that shall be employed by the teachers, and to purchase 
on his own responsibility books, equipment, and supplies that are useless in the school- 
room. Fortunately, such occurrences are so rare and stand in such bold contrast to 
the general course pursued as to be almost negligible. In practice the Ijoards seldom 
have regular meetings. Where the directors are in different parts of the town, each is 
likely to look after the repairs and concerns of the school or schools near him. There 
are some towns in which no minutes are kept of the meetings that are held. 

Two features of elementary school administration deserve especial attention. The 
boards rarely have written contracts with those whom they employ. This makes it pos- 
sible to manipulate accounts so that the people of the town may be in ignorance of 
tiiie conditions. In one town it was asserted that a teacher was paid ten dollars a week, 
but the accounts were so transferred that she was reported to the town as receiving 
only eight dollars. 

Teachers and those who transport children should have written contracts in dupli- 
cate. In the case of teachers such contracts should, whenever possible, be for the year 
rather than for the single term of ten or twelve weeks. This would tend to decrease the 
number of changes of teachers in the rural schools. These contracts should state the 
times at which the payments of salary are to be made. School directors are particu- 
larly concerned in this matter. The absence of \vritten contracts and often the lack of 
minutes of board meetings make it possible for any one so inclined to cast doubts upon 
the integrity of the director. In one town a teacher said: " I am getting nine dollars 
a week, but I don't know what I am supposed to be receiving. When I was employed, 
the director stipulated that I was to board with him, and he has my wages paid in 
two checks, one to himself for my board, and the balance to me. I have never seen his 
check.'" An examination of the books of the clerk was made, but as there were no 
written contracts and the teacher had been paid at irregular intervals, there was no 
way of determining the period for which pavment had been made. In two of the towns 
visited there had been no agreement as to how much the town was to pay for con- 
veying pupils. The school officer told what he thought he would pay, but a talk with 
those conveying the children revealed the fact that they were expecting very differ- 
ent amounts — in one case, thirty per cent less. To assist the school officers, the school 
registers should each contain at least three teachers' contracts in duplicate and a 
form of transportation contract. 

One reason for having school affairs controlled by a board of citizens, rather than 
by those engaged in the profession of education, is to make it easy for any person who 
feels himself aggrieved to be heard by those who presumably will be in sympathy 
with his point of view. In actual practice it often happens that it is wiser for parents 
to submit to what they consider grave injustice rather than to attempt to have con- 
ditions changed. If they go to the teacher, they may gain nothing but to incur her 
ill-will toward their child. The superintendent often feels that he must sustain the 



40 



EDUCATION IN VERMONT 



teacher, and the board the superintendent. There is the possibility of an appeal to 
the courts, but this is slow and expensive. There should always be an easy and inexpen- 
sive method of appeal to an authority that can act quickly and impartially and whose 
verdict will be final. Such authority should rest with the state board of education. 
Some cases may now be appealed to this board, but in matters connected with the con- 
veyance of pupils, the designation of a particular school for pupils to attend, insuffi- 
cient school accommodations, or cases of attendance upon a school in another town, 
and the number of weeks of school attendance, appeal from the decision of the town 
board is to the town or union superintendent, by a petition signed by five taxpayers 
of the town. Two persons, one chosen by either party, act with the superintendent, 
and their decision rendered in ■ivriting is binding on the board. The superintendent 
who thus exercises judicial powers must also, as the agent of the board, exercise execu- 
tive authority over patrons upon whose goodwill much of his success depends. 



(b) The Ages and Attendance of Pupils 
The school age in Vermont is from five to seventeen inclusive; the compulsory ages 
are from eight to fifteen inclusive, unless the child is physically incapable of attending 
school, or has already acquired the branches taught in the elementary school as pre- 
scribed by the superintendent of education. A judgment based upon the federal census 
of 1910 would place the number of children of five to seventeen years of age in the 
state at about 83,000. Of this number approximately .57,000 are attending the ele- 
mentary schools. Fifty-four per cent of the children live in the country, and nearly 
ninety -five per cent of them are native born. Comparatively few children enter school 
before six and almost none remain after sixteen years of age. An examination of the 
registers of 608 schools in 69 towns and incorporated districts chosen at random 
showed that the ages of the 13,136 children attending the.se elementary schools (June 
30, 1912) were as follows: 



Iges 


No. of Pupils 


Per- Cent of the Total 


Aijes 


No. of Pupils 


Per Cent of the Total 


4> 


21 


.2 


13 


1,248 


9.6 


5 


213 


1.6 


14 


1,207 


9-2 


6 


815 


6.2 


15 


996 


7.6 


7 


1,343 


10.2 


16 


339 


2.6 


8 


1,358 


10.3 


17 


121 


.9 


9 


1,470 


11.2 


18 


27 


.2 


10 


1,389 


10.6 


19 


4 




11 


1,274 


9.1 


20 


2 




12 


1,308 


10.0 


21 
Total 


1 






13,136 





Each year, between the 20th and 30th of June, the clerk of the board of school 
directors of each town is required to prepare an accurate list of the children of 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 41 

school age and the names of the parents or other persons responsible for each child ; 
the clerk receiving a compensation of five cents for the name of each child. In many 
towns so little attention is paid to this school census that the federal census for 
1910 showed several thousand more children than were reported by the school clerks. 
A not uncommon way of making the census list is for the clerk to take the registers 
of the previous year, add one year to the ages of the children, dropping any that he 
knows to have moved away, and adding any that he may recall as having moved into 
the district. This list is to be kept on file, and from it the clerk is required to insert 
in the register of each school the names of the children who should attend that school. 
This provision, however, is very generally disobeyed. An examination of practically 
aU the school registers for 1912 shows that less than one-half had the names so in- 
serted, and in many of these cases the teacher herself had supplied them. The children 
that are omitted by such procedure are precisely those that are in the gi-eatest need 
of schooling. 

In many towns the school census is fairly correct; in others there is little claim to 
accuracy. If this condition persists, a remedy may be found in some regulation that 
shall cause part of the state aid to be based on the number of children of school age. 
In this event the state board should require an aflidavit of the correctness of the report 
from school officers. 

There is no trustworthy information regarding the number or location of school 
children who are so deaf or who have such poor sight as to be unfit for the public 
schools. These data should appear in the census in order that such unfortunates may 
receive the care to which they are entitled. When adequate tests have been devel- 
oped for the detection of the feeble-minded, these children also should be especially 
enumerated. 

Except for a relatively small number of towns, the proportion of children of school 
age enrolled and the attendance of those so enrolled is remarkably good. The federal 
census of 1910 shows that Vemiont is tied with Kansas for first place in the propor- 
tion of children of school age who were enrolled in school for some portion of the 
school year. When compared with other states, the attendance of pupils in Vermont 
schools also is excellent, but no state can afford to relax its efforts until every child 
who should be in school is in attendance every day that the schools are in session, 
unless he is prevented by sickness or some pressing need in the home. 

Some states require that teachers report each absence of a pupil who should be in 
attendance. Others permit teachers to cease to consider pupils as members of the school 
after a certain number of consecutive days of absence. This number in some states is 
three, in others five, and in still others ten days. In Vermont ten consecutive days' 
absence is supposed to sever the pupil's membership. Thus a child who was absent ten 
or more consecutive days would not be counted absent in the report rendered to the 
state superintendent, but one who had been absent nine consecutive days, or any 
number of days at intervals, would be reported for all absences. This varied practice 



42 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

makes any comparison of the regularity of attendance that is based upon state reports 
very unreliable. In about half of the registers for 1911-12 the teachers had failed to 
understand the rule regarding membership and had reported all absences. This differ- 
ence in the method of recording absences makes it unsafe to compare the attendance 
of even two schools in the same town. The cause of absence is not indicated in the 
register, consequently there is no way of determining the exact amount of unlawful 
absence. Each absence should be recorded, and a system of symbols for indicating 
the cause of absence should be devised by the state superintendent. This would make 
it possible to report the number of absences due to sickness, as well as those that 
are unlawful. 

The state has a stringent compulsory education law. Its provisions are clear, and 
the duties of teachers and truant officers are explicit. In some towns, however, the law 
is not obeyed. A few places were found where teachers had repeatedly sent notices 
of truancy to the truant officers, but these officers had not even enquired the cause 
of absence. The consequence is that in a few schools at least one fourth of the pupils 
are habitual truants or are unlawfully kept at home by parents. If the attendance 
laws, when properly enforced, fail to correct such abuses as now exist in these places, 
a legal provision, making it possible for the state board to withhold state funds from 
such towns, would be entirely effective. 

(c) The Teachers 
About twenty-four hundred teachers are required for the elementary schools of the 
state, but owing to resignations, more than twenty-seven hundred different teachers 
were employed during 1911-12. About two hundred of this number were men. The 
lack in large sections of \'ermont of occupations for women other than teaching has 
had a tendency to keep the teacher's salary very low, and this in turn has prevented 
the rural schools in particular from obtaining teachers who have any considerable 
amount of professional training. The typical rural school teacher is therefore a young 
woman of about twenty-three, who has been teaching about four years for $8.50 a 
week or $275 a school year. In many cases she teaches in her home town and either 
walks or drives from one to five miles to get to her school. She is a graduate of a four- 
year high school, but has had no professional training. Never having been taught the 
methods and devices that might enable her to meet the situations of the class-room, 
she either succeeds or fails in accordance with her native ability, and this fortunately 
is large. As might be expected, the better trained teachers are found in the graded 
schools, where the salaries are much better and the tenure of office is more secure. 
More than two-thirds of the graded school teachers began teaching in imgraded 
schools. Detailed information concerning the salaries, academic and professional 
training, and teaching experience of more than twenty-two hundred of the elemen- 
tary teachers is presented in Part III. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 43 

An examination of the school registers for 1911-12 showed that while only twelve 
per cent of the teachers each term were inexperienced, more than one-half of the teach- 
ers of the rural schools were new to the schools in which they taught. A conserva- 
tive estimate, therefore, of the number of different teachers a child would have in 
passing through the rural elementary schools would be fifteen. In the graded schools 
this number would be less. Teachers are not required to sign contracts, and in many 
towns they are engaged merely for the term of ten weeks. In some places it is im- 
possible for the teachers to obtain suitable boarding-houses in the vicinity of their 
schools, and the town has to transport them to and fi"om the school. 

The relations that prevail between the teachers and the pupils in the two hundred 
elementary schools visited deserve special commendation. The old-time severity has 
given way to a helpful attitude of mutual respect and cooperation. In the recita- 
tion the teachers manifested a patience and a sympathy that placed the child at 
ease and called forth his best effoi'ts. In no case was sarcasm employed, and in only 
one instance, and that in a graded school, was a teacher heard to speak in a way that 
humiliated a pupil. 

It must not be assumed that teachers and superintendents do not have to exercise 
discipline and even to employ severe measures. In several of the schools that were 
visited teachers had failed so completely earlier in the year that they had been re- 
moved. Generally, however, those in charge of the schools are meeting such critical 
situations in a manner that aids the development of character. 

The fact that many teachers do not board in the communities where they teach 
limits their usefulness to the community. Here and there, however, over the entire 
state young women scarcely out of their teens are wielding remarkable influence. In 
some cases the towns have spontaneously raised their salaries beyond what they have 
paid before, and adjacent schools, so far from opposing consolidation, have been anx- 
ious to have their children transported to the schools presided over by such teachers. 

The statutes provide that teachers may receive their salaries monthly if they so 
demand. Practice in this matter varies throughout the state. In some towns and in 
most if not all of the cities the teachers are paid monthly. In other towns the director 
stipulates at the time he employs the teacher that she is to be paid at the end of the 
term. In still other towns teachers write or telephone to the chairman of the direc- 
tors that they want money. He fills out an order, waits until he can conveniently 
see the other directors whose signatures are required, gives the signed order to the 
town treasure!", and in time the teacher receives her money. In places where teachers 
cannot shop there may be little demand for ready money, but the fact remains that 
for many reasons the most satisfactory method of payment is monthly. In some towns 
teachers have complained bitterly of the present method. As is shown in the report 
on finances. Section VII, it is often an advantage to the town to postpone the pay- 
ment of teachers as long as possible, especially when the selectmen have to borrow 
the money. 



44 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

(d) The State Course of Study 

The present "Teacher\s Manutal for Use in the Elementary Schools" was issued by 
the department of education in 1907. The introduction states that it was prepared 
for the ungraded rural schools rather than for the graded schools in cities and vil- 
lages. No less than twenty different people contributed to the making of this course 
of study, and since no definite principles are given as having governed these indi- 
viduals in the making of a course, there is a lack of unity in the points of view. Some 
of the subjects are fully outlined with a clear statement of the ends to be attained. 
For other subjects there is a mere catalogue of the things to be done, with little or 
no indication of the aim or purpose of the work. In actual practice this course of 
study is not used in many schools. Several of the cities and larger villages have more 
or less detailed courses of study, and many of the union superintendents have been 
diligent in trying to prepare courses suitable for their own schools. The following 
summary indicates the order in which a child, entering the school at the customary 
age of six, will take up the various subjects. 

The child's principal task during the first school year is to learn to read primers 
and first readers. Incidentally, he is taught to spell many of the words that he reads, 
to count to ten, to add and subtract within the limit of his ability, and in wTiting 
to form the letters and easy words. Many fairy and hero stories are read to him, and he 
is encouraged to reproduce them orally in order that his power of expi-ession may be 
impi'oved. Some attention is given to the fundamental principles of hygiene, nature 
study, and the simplest social relationships. In some schools rote singing and draw- 
ing are also begun. Altliough the emphasis is upon reading, all the subjects tiiat are 
taught in the elementary school are introduced in very elementary form in the fii'st 
school year. 

During the second year reading is still emphasized, but the other subjects are given 
more systematic attention. Through constant drill the child gains enough facility 
in writing and spelling to write simple compositions. He learns the tables of several 
of the more commonly used measures which the teacher employs in formulating sim- 
ple problems involving counting, adding, and subtracting. Rote singing, drawing, 
and the observation of the common birds, animals, and plants is continued. 

In the third year the emphasis is changed from reading to arithmetic. The child 
learns the multiplication tables and continues to drill upon addition, subtraction, 
and the simpler forms of fractions. Although oi'al expression is still encouraged, 
written composition, particularly letter-writing, and simple grammatical distinc- 
tions form a consideraljle part of the English work in this grade. The child is made 
fiimiliar with the common geographical concepts and terms through the study of 
a text that deals with the general features of geography that can be illustrated in his 
own locality. In some schools note singing is begun, and most schools give nature 
study and drawing some attention. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 45 

In the fourth year the mastery of the four fundamental operations in arithmetic 
is completed, and more definite work with fractions begun. Drill is accomplished by 
numerous examples found in the text-book. Since the child is supposed to be able to 
read anything within his comprehension, less attention is given to reading as a sepa- 
rate subject. Geography in this grade is concerned with the earth as a whole. Hero 
stories are used for the direct purpose of teaching some of the important events in 
history. Letter-writing, oral and written composition, and the grammatical analysis 
of simple sentences constitute the work in English. The other subjects are continued 
as in the preceding grades. 

During the fifth year the work in arithmetic is concerned with the application of 
numbers that involve decimals and percentage. There is reading for appreciation and 
acquaintanceship with good literature. The English is continued as in the preceding 
grades with the exception of an increased emphasis upon formal grammar. In geogra- 
phy attention is given to the study of the principal features of selected continents. 
Some of the important events of history are taught by means of stories. The remain- 
ing subjects are taught as in the fourth grade. 

In the sixth year the chief new topic in arithmetic is simple interest. There is a 
thorough drill in all that has previously been taught. Formal grammar is more em- 
phasized in the English work for this year, and many compositions based upon school 
and home experiences are required. The study of the continents continues in geog- 
raphy, and there is an intensive study of the state of Vermont. The reading of brief 
historical studies is continued, and an attempt is made to correlate history with geog- 
raphy and language work. Some attention is given civic relationships. 

Prior to the seventh school year all of the fundamental processes in arithmetic 
have been taught. During this year drill and reviews, with some of the applications of 
number to business operations, are given. In history the children begin a systematic 
study of English and early American history from text-books. There is little change 
in the character of the work required in the other school subjects. 

During the eighth year and in those schools that have a ninth year the children 
complete and review the whole subject of arithmetic. In some schools elementary alge- 
bra and geometry are begun. In English attention is directed to a somewhat critical 
study of literary selections, and to a thorough review of all the work of the course. 
In geography as in arithmetic the child completes and reviews the subject. In history 
an elementary text-book of American history is completed and the history of Ver- 
mont is considered. In general this year is devoted to a review and rounding up of 
the elementary school subjects and to further preparation in such studies as are con- 
tinued in the high school. The statutes require that good manners be taught in every 
school. This is sometimes done by having the pupils determine what they would do 
in hypothetical situations. More often, however, teachers take the opportunities that 
present themselves in the school-room for teaching this subject. 

Generally these local courses of study have been mimeographed, and their proper 



4.6 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

use has been made the subject of discussion for teachers meetings. The importance of 
such work cannot be overstated. Superintendents who have undertaken it often express 
their dissatisfaction with tlie results, but it has brought them face to face with the 
real problems of instruction. For several years prior to 1913 conmiittees of the union 
superintendents were charged with the duty of formulating a new state course of 
study, but these committees seem to have accomplished little, and at their meeting 
in June, 1912, they decided that the work could best be done by a smaller group, 
who should be paid by the state for their services and expenses. Since that time, 
however, there has been no further united effort in this direction. 

It is not uncommon to find teachers working without any directions whatever. In 
some cases girls who were graduated from the high school in June begin to teach in 
the autumn with their entire directions for a year's work with seven or more grades 
written in lead pencil on a single sheet of paper. Such teachers can do little else than 
work through certain pages of the books that are assigned. With their lack of experi- 
ence they are unable even to select the valuable parts of the texts, and so they teach all 
without discrimination. In all of the schools observed there was a marked tendency to 
have the rural school children do the same work as was done by the children in the 
graded schools of the nearby villages. In a few rural schools the teachers were attempt- 
ing to teach elementary agriculture, but in general the farmers have not been enthusi- 
astic over such attempts, probably because the teacher is in most cases the daughter 
of a neighbor whose farm is in no way out of the ordinary. Music and drawing are 
taught in most of the schools, and some of the teachers who have special aptitude 
for hand work are accomplishing a great deal in this subject. 

The course of study contained in "The Teacher's Manual" does not differ essentially 
from most other state courses. The fact that it was not followed to any considerable 
extent in any of the schools that were visited would seem to indicate that it is not 
adapted to their needs. This in fact was a very common complaint among the teach- 
ers. The primary purpose of a course of study, like good teaching methods, is to 
secure efficient instruction. Incidentally it serves in determining the grades to which 
pupils belong and assists the administrator in other ways. The course of study is 
therefore subject to the same principles that govern good teaching. 

The school is one of a large number of institutions that contribute to the educa- 
tion of children. The home, the farm, the fsictory, and the various civic, social, 
and religious organizations each has an influence. The school is not intended to take 
over that which will be well and economically done elsewhere. It is essential that the 
school recognize the varying abilities, environment, and experiences of the pupils, and 
the course of studv should as far as possible provide for such conditions. 

The Vermont course of study recognizes the varying abilities of children to only 
a small extent. Examples are to be found in the course for reading, where a long list 
of books from which the teachers may select is given. The course in arithmetic for 
the eighth and ninth grades states concerning certain subjects that " they may be 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 47 

regarded as optional.'* In general, however, no provision is made for the varying abil- 
ities of children. 

Children who live on farms generally participate in the activities of the home, often 
having chores to do. It is certain that much of their experience differs greatly from 
that of city children who live in homes that do not furnish such opportunities. There 
is a statement in the introduction to the manual to the effect that the curriculum 
is intended for the rural schools, and a suggestion that the work and the methods of 
the graded schools differ somewhat from those of the rural schools because the former 
have more time for recitation and more pupils per class. But this is the only reference 
to any difference in environment or experiences. 

The introduction to the manual states also that the course is suggestive rather 
than prescribed. This would lead one to expect that the teacher could easily select 
the subject-matter most needed by her pupils. Such, however, is not the case. In only 
one subject is there any indication of what are the more important parts, and but 
few guiding principles are stated. 

The course aims to prepare for the high school. In a few particulars only does it 
attempt to meet the child's present needs. The arithmetic for the first year intro- 
duced only those combinations that the child will be likely to need, but this is in 
marked contrast to the teaching of elementary algebra in the seventh year. 

In Vermont as elsewhere there are many complaints that pupils who have completed 
the school course are unable to do satisfactory work in positions requiring the use of 
arithmetic and English. This criticism is often turned against those who were most 
satisfactory as pupils. The difficulty is not that these subjects did not receive enough 
time in school, but rather that the processes were merely memorized and the mem- 
ory kept alive by frequent drills. The children never saw that these processes had 
any practical application, consequently the knowledge was not so organized that it 
became a part of the child's experience. The remedy is to be found in such an organ- 
ization of the subject-matter that children can use it. In this respect Vermont courses 
often fail. The course in agriculture, for example, outlines ten experiments for the test- 
ing of soils, but there is no suggestion of any use that may be made of this know- 
ledge. Most adults have little need for the use of square root or algebra, yet these 
subjects are taught in the eighth and ninth years. There are frequent directions to 
the teacher to coi'relate the work of one subject with some other, but the course makes 
no attempt to do this except between English and drawing. The country child has 
the same i-ight as the city child to have the work adapted to his experiences and 
needs. This is not for the puipose of making a farmer of him, but so as to furnish a 
foundation upon which he can organize his knowledge. Except for a few topics, such 
as problems concerning fences in arithmetic, and the raising of vegetal>les as subjects 
for compositions, there are no indications that the course is intended for rural schools. 

Some years ago the elementary school course was lengthened from eight to nine 
years. This was done because the school year in the rural and many village schools 



48 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

was so short that the customary elementary school course could not well be covered 
in eight years. Now that this special cause for the longer course is gradually disap- 
pearing, it would be in keeping with the practice of most other states to return to 
an eight-year course. In fact, it would be advisable in many sections where conditions 
permit of conveying pupils to end the elementary course with the sixth year, and 
to do much of what is now done in the seventh, eighth, and ninth years in junior 
high schools. This subject is treated in detail in Section IV. 

(e) The Character of ilie Instruction 

It is unsafe to generalize concerning the quality of instruction from observations 
made in only about ten per cent of the schools. Because, however, of the conditions 
that were discussed in connection with the course of study, and the influence of the 
free tuition examinations, the features of instruction presented here are probably 
typical of those throughout the state, except in certain of the larger cities. 

Much stress is laid upon certain formal branches. HandwTiting is probably the 
most emphasized subject in the schools. In one city the teachers were notified that they 
would not be given contracts for the next year unless they presented certificates of 
proficiency in the method of handwriting employed in that school system. In another 
city the teachers were given one year in which to qualify in a similar way. Formal 
grammar is a close second to handwriting. In many of the schools this subject is begun 
in the fourth grade, and is continued by parsing, analyzing, and diagraming, through 
the remaining five years. It is made paramount in the ninth gi-ade. Arithmetic also 
receives disproportionate emphasis. Such subjects as history, geography, physiology 
and hygiene, literature, art, and music are not ignored, but aside from some excep- 
tional schools, these subjects do not receive an appropriate amount of attention. 

This general emphasis on formal branches results in making drill the predominant 
method of instruction. This drill too often has but little thought behind it, and as 
a consequence the subjects in connection with which it is used are those in which the 
pupils receive the poorest standings in the free tuition examinations, which are dis- 
cussed later. In beginning reading teachers and superintendents have very generally 
discarded the earlier drill methods and now approach the subject from the side of its 
content or thought, with the result that mastery of form comes about incidentally, 
and as a necessary consequence of a child's desire to understand the thought. In one 
school the English work of all grades, from the third to the ninth inclusive, was 
observed. The third grade pupils were asked to tell the story illustrated by two pic- 
tures in the text. One child did this in remarkably good form. Of the seven classes 
observed, however, this was the only one in which the children did or said anything 
that was their own. The work of the others was confined to technical analysis of sen- 
tences, the diagraming of these, and the parsing of the words. While this is the most 
general characteristic of the work in English, there are teachers who rise above it and 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 49 

put into their English work an element of practical reality that brings excellent re- 
sults. In one school of this sort the teacher set a boy the task of ordering a list of sup- 
plies that she needed. The interest and appreciation of children who are treated in 
this practical way are very great. In the matter of literature the schools in general are 
teaching little else than the so-called classics. It is not uncommon to find that chil- 
dren who have completed the elementary school course have not read in school any- 
thing that was written within the last century, except such brief extracts as may occur 
in the reading-books. Progressive high school teachers report that when the pupils 
come to them they cannot read books of any considerable length, and find it extremely 
difficult to study either literature or composition. So far as English is concerned, little 
attention is given to adapting the subject to the child's needs or interests. The course 
is based on a supposition that the child will enter the high school, and that the 
work given is that which is best calculated to prepai'e for that end. The fact that only 
a few of these boys and girls will ever enter high school is constantly ignored. 

In arithmetic the situation is but little better. A large part of the work in this 
subject is so far removed from the experiences of the child and from his immediate or 
even remote needs that he memorizes a mass of forms, which mean nothing to him 
and can never be applied by him. In one school an eighth grade was assigned ten 
problems in compound fractious. "When the children had solved all the problems the 
teacher read the answers from his book, but accidentally read the wrong page of an- 
swers. The pupils crossed out one after another of their own answers with no display 
of either surprise or disappointment. Evidently the whole procedure was so unreal to 
them that they were prepared to accept any result. In another graded school a class 
was trying, with little success, to determine how much it would cost to line the inside 
of a cylindrical water tank with lead half an inch thick at a given cost per pound. 

History and geography are not made to appeal to the children by connecting these 
subjects with their experiences. The lessons that were observed in these subjects were 
confined largely to a repetition of the contents of some text-book, and there was 
seldom any effort to relate the statements of the book with what the child might be 
expected to know about his own environment. 

Experience has done a great deal toward making some very efficient teachers in 
Vermont. The fact, however, that a large majority of the elementary school teachers 
have had no professional training, together with the absence of adequate courses of 
study, makes the hearing of lessons from books the predominant method of teaching; 
and since the books do not recognize the varying abilities or experiences of children, 
the teaching does not. The reason usually given for teaching parsing, analyzing, and 
diagraming is that they help children to use language correctly. If doubt is cast on 
the efficacy of this method for accomplishing that result, it is said that these subjects 
are required for entrance to high school, — hence they are required of children who 
will never enter high school. Little attention is given to the selection of subject-mat- 
ter that will serve the present needs of the children, and this tends to make much of 



50 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

the work mere memorizing, and an attempt to fix unrelated facts in the memory by 
means of drill. 

Much of that which is taught is not organized about the child's experiences. In the 
midst of Vermont's famous mountains, he studies mountains in geography, but he 
often sees no connection between the two. No child in a class that was studying the 
bones of the arm and shoulder by means of a book on physiology was able to locate 
these bones in the body. In many upper grades children who were able to solve abstract 
problems of area easily were unable to compute the area of their school-room. 

Some good teaching was observed in the rural schools, but in general it was better 
in the villages and in cities. Teachers in graded schools have fewer grades in their 
classes and are free from the care of the school building. The trained teachers naturally 
seek the graded schools, and have usually better pay and a longer school year. 

In general the character of the instruction that was found in the Vermont elementary 
schools was determined largely by two factors. The first is the indefiniteness of the 
course of study, which has been discussed. The second is the free tuition examinations. 
In 1906 the legislature enacted laws which were designed to place the advantages 
of high school education within the reach of all of the boys and girls of the state. 
Towns are obliged to maintain a high school, or to pay the tuition of properly 
prepared pupils in the high schools of other towns or states. There was a suspicion 
that if left to themselves the weaker high schools, in order to secure more money, 
would receive pupils who were not qualified to do the work. To prevent such a con- 
dition, the law provided that the qualifications of the pupils should be determined 
by means of an examination, conducted by the union or town superintendent. The 
town is not responsible for the tuition of any high school pupil who does not pass 
this examination. 

The examinations are prepared by a connnittee of the union superintendents, 
printed by the state, and furnished to each superintendent who requires them; they 
are set on given days for the pupils throughout the state. The answers are returned 
to the state superintendent, who employs readers to mark them, one person reading 
all of the papers on the same subject. The state superintendent reports the ratings 
to the town or union superintendents. They determine the eligibility of the pupils 
for free tuition, and report tlieir decisions to the state superintendent as warrant for 
its payment. 

On its face this seems to be a perfectly logical method. In actual practice these free 
tuition examinations have had an undue infiuence upon both the subject-matter and 
the methods of instruction. The teachers, believing that they are to be judged by the 
success or failure of their pupils in these examinations, set about to prepare for them. 
In some of the schools the ninth year is devoted almost exclusively to such reviews 
and drills as the experience of the teacher leads her to believe will best give this 
preparation. At one of the most critical periods of tlie child's life, therefore, he is 
deprived of new subjects of interest, and is bound to dwell again upon that which he 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 51 

has gone over and over. The effects of these examinations are manifest not only in 
the ninth grade, but throughout all of the upper grades. If a teacher is asked why she 
spends so much time on formal grammar, she almost invariably replies that the ex- 
aminations demand it. In this she is correct: until the most recent examinations, no 
less than ninety per cent of the questions in English pertained to formal grammar. 
Although it is a source of no small amount of pride among the schoolmen of \'er- 
mont that their high schools have certificate privileges with the New England col- 
leges, yet a child cannot pass from one division of their own school system to another 
without an examination. 

These free tuition examinations should be abolished. With the increase in the num- 
ber of competent superintendents it should no longer be necessary to employ this 
means in order to secure either proper work in the elementary school or adherence 
to standards by the high school. The abolition of these examinations would cause 
a great change in the school work of the upper elementary years. It would prevent 
much of the drilling on subject-matter which now seems of use only for entering the 
high school. It would remove a large part of what is now done in the ninth grade, 
and give teachers and superintendents the initiative in determining what is most 
essential for the pupil's needs. 

(f ) The Extent and Character of Supervision 
Prior to 1906 the supervision of all of the public schools was in the hands of town 
superintendents, who were appointed by the board of school directors for each town. 
At present about sixty towns that have not joined supervisory unions still have town 
superintendents. No educational or professional qualifications are required of these 
officers. They are to observe the condition of the schoolhouses, outbuildings, and 
grounds; to ascertain whether schools are properly supplied with maps, reference- 
books, and apparatus, and the pupils with necessary text-books. They make recommen- 
dations to the board of school directors, and they may dismiss teachers who, in their 
judgment, are incompetent or unfit for their position. In a few towns these offices are 
held by retired teachers of superior training and experience. In such cases there is some 
attempt at supervision of instruction, but in general the town superintendents are 
men who have little knowledge of school affairs. They are in no way qualified to 
supervise instruction, and the towns do not often expect or desire them to attempt 
this. In one town it was even stated that when the board appointed the superinten- 
dent it stipulated that he should not pay the schools more than the single visit each 
term that is required by law. Whether this stipulation was actually made or no, the 
superintendent had at any rate confined his visits to the minimum number. When, as 
in some of the towns, the principal of the high school has been appointed town super- 
intendent also, the outlying schools are generally neglected. With the amount of 
teaching that nearly all of the high school principals have to do in the smaller schools, 



52 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

they can seldom accomplish anything more in the way of supervision than to look 
after the disciplinary cases in the grades located in their own buildings. 

The legislature of 1906 empowered the school directors of two or more neighbor- 
ing towns, having an aggregate of not more than fifty nor less than twenty-five legal 
schools, to form a union for the purpose of employing a superintendent of schools. 
The school directors of the various towns forming such a union constitute a joint 
committee for the employment and direction of the superintendent and the appor- 
tionment of the expenses of supervision among the towns composing the union. Some 
towns are unable to gain admission into the unions, and there is no authority that 
can force the adjoining towns to receive them. 

Since 1907 more than sixty per cent of the towns had joined unions for the pur- 
pose of employing professional superintendents. In 1912-13 there were 55 unions, 
including all but 60 of the towais. A total of .?77,005 was paid to the union super- 
intendents in 1911— 12, but of this amount the state refunded S50,843, thus making 
the net expense to these towns $26,162. 

Of the 53 men and 2 women employed as union superintendents during 1912-13, 
36 were college graduates, 18 had had some professional training, and 49 had taught 
one or more terms in rural schools. More than one-half of them had been high school 
principals immediately before their election as superintendents. 

These men and women have been pioneers in this work. The system itself has been 
in operation so short a time that it is difficult to show by statistics just what effect it 
has had upon the schools. It is evident that the people of Vermont believe that the 
services of these union superintendents are valuable, for while a few towns for one 
cause or another have withdrawn from unions, the number of unions has constantly 
increased, and several towns that at first refused to enter unions are now most 
anxious to do so. In general the teachers believe in the system. They are loyal to the 
superintendents, and the younger teachers who are in townis outside of unions have 
almost without exception expressed their desire to come under such supervision. 

Doubtless it has been the more progressive towns that have employed superin- 
tendents, so that too much emphasis should not be placed upon the differences that 
now exist between the towns within and those without the unions. That marked dif- 
ferences generally exist cannot be denied. They are noticeable in the general repair 
of the school buildings, the condition of the grounds, in the school equipment, the 
sufficiency of supplies, the character and condition of the text-books, in the enforce- 
ment of the compulsory education laws, and in the records of the progress of the 
pupils that are furnished to parents and kept as permanent school records. Teachers 
in unions regard themselves as members of a group and not as isolated individuals. 
By no means the least important effect of the system is to be found in the influence 
that some of the superintendents exert over their communities in matters relating to 
education. 

The problem of distributing hooks and supplies is complicated because each town 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 53 

in a union purchases its own. It frequently happens that different to\vns pay very 
different prices for the same articles. It is difficult to store them in one central place 
from which they may be distributed. In some instances the work of the superintendents 
has been greatly hampered by the failure of the school directors to secure sufficient 
supplies. In those towns where the supplies are ordered in small lots there is, in addi- 
tion to a direct financial loss in the cost of supplies, a great loss in the efficiency of the 
schools, and a most uneconomic use of the superintendent's time. AVhere a year's sup- 
plies are ordered at once, as they are in most unions, the superintendents are develop- 
ing methods of distribution that prevent inconvenience to the schools and the waste 
of their own time. Tlie general tendency is to allow the union superintendent to look 
after this matter. In all of the towns that were observed there was a very careful use 
of the books and supplies. Often the superintendents transferred supplementary read- 
ers from one school to another four or five times a year. 

The union superintendents generally require reports from the teachers. The amount 
and character of the information that most of these officers possess concerning the 
ages, grades, and progi'ess of the pupils would do credit to city school systems. Nearly 
all of the union superintendents have devised more or less efficient systems of re- 
cording the progress of pupils. In some unions teachers are required to keep a detailed 
record of the work done each day. In the towns that follow a definite course of study 
the matter is comparatively simple. There is, however, no uniformity in these records, 
and consequently much confusion arises when comparisons are made. Each superin- 
tendent tends to have his or her own way of recording data, and in many cases does 
not use the system employed by his predecessors. In some unions the matter of re- 
quiring reports from teachers is carried to such an extent as seriously to hamper the 
teacher. In one union each teacher, in addition to keeping her own records, is required 
to send monthly reports to the parents, to file duplicates of these reports for a perma- 
nent school record, and to copy the names and standings of the children for the per- 
sonal use of the superintendent. At least two-thirds of this work is unnecessary. 

One of the serious problems in every town is to devise some system by which the 
progress of pupils may be recorded, so that new teachers may know where to take up 
their work. When teachers have been asked how they knew where to begin their work 
when they first entered the school, thev have frequently replied that their only means 
of knowing was by asking the children. The waste of time and effort in the rural 
schools caused by going over the same subject is proverbial. It has often been asserted 
that keen boys, by giving new teachers the page at which thev began rather than 
that at which they concluded the preceding term, have been able to go over the same 
subject three times in one year. These assertions have not been verified, but such con- 
ditions certainly are possible in many towns, some of them in unions. This situation 
is sufficiently unfortunate for the children who have previously attended the school, 
but it is nearly hopeless for the children who come for the first time from other 
towns. Often the teacher must try to grade these children on the basis of no more 



54 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

definite knowledge than that they have "worked arithmetic in a book with black 
covers." 

The keeping of the essential features of school records and reports by the union 
superintendents should be so systematized that they would be uniform throughout the 
state. A committee of the superintendents working in connection with the state super- 
intendent could easily arrange such record forms. They should call for essential facts 
only. The keeping of records involving statistics demands a special ability, which is 
not possessed by all teachers. When compelled to supply such records of anything 
except the most essential facts, the expenditure of their time and energy is out of all 
proportion to the value of the results. 

In matters pertaining to the actual supervision of instruction the union superin- 
tendents have been somewhat handicapped. The schools are often far apart, and the 
roads hilly and bad. The details of organization have demanded a great deal of their 
time. In the past, moreover, a large proportion of the superintendents have had no 
professional training. Their experience as high school principals has not conti'ibuted 
directly to their understanding of elementary school problems. In some cases it may 
even have given a distorted notion of the real purpose of the elementary school. The 
state board of education now requires professional training as a qualification for this 
office, and this should tend to improve conditions. One of the common methods em- 
ployed by superintendents is to teach classes in the school they visit. When, as often 
happens, no subsequent comments are made, the elFort foils to give results, because 
the teacher is not convinced that the class was handled more skilfully than by herself. 
Several teachers remarked that they did not know whether the superintendent was 
testing the pupils or trying to illustrate better methods of teaching. In a number of 
unions, however, there is unmistakable evidence of efficient supervision. The teachers 
and the superintendent are working together for the solution of problems of instruc- 
tion, and a real professional spirit is developing. 

In a preceding paragraph mention was made of the emphasis upon the formal 
side of school work as distinguished from the side of content. Too often the super- 
intendents have encouraged this attitude. It is much easier to judge handwriting, the 
parsing and analyzing and diagraming of sentences, the accuracy of answers and pro- 
cesses in arithmetic, than it is to determine the efficiency of instruction in English 
composition, history, nature study, or geography. Not infrequently the only sug- 
gestions that a teacher can recall are that the children should read with expres- 
sion, or should sit straight. It is quite probable that the teacher was conscious of 
the fact that the children were not reading or sitting as they should. What she most 
needed was help in arranging conditions so that they could read or sit properly. The 
superintendents are usually liberal in praising their teacliers in general terms, but 
often they leave them as ignorant of the excellences of their work as they are of its 
defects. 

In particular the superintendents are accustomed to attend to the products rather 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 55 

than to the processes of instruction. The purpose of supervision is to improve teach- 
ing, and the supervisor should be governed by the same principles that govern the 
teacher, because their aims are the same. His duty, however, is the more difficult, 
because while he adjusts matters to the pupils, he must make the adjustment through 
the teacher. On the other hand, the teacher is concerned only with the pupils. 

It is unreasonable to expect effective supervision when teachers change positions 
so often that they cannot become fully acquainted with the conditions under which 
they work. Neither can it be expected in those unions where a false notion of econ- 
omy keeps the schools without sufficient supplies, or leaves in them such a variety of 
texts that the supervisor cannot possibly adapt the work to each of them. The mak- 
ing of a course of study is not a brief task. In many cases the superintendent has no 
option but to direct the teachers to complete a certain portion of the text each term. 

When a union is first formed it is inevitable that a large proportion of the super- 
intendent's time and energy must be devoted to administrative details connected with 
organization. The tendency will always be strong for the superintendent to remain 
an administrator rather than a supervisor of instruction. Escape from this condition 
must be found in better oi-ganization. Some of those who have held office for several 
years have already accomplished this. Many of the statements reported at the time 
the law creating this office was passed show that those responsible for it expected that 
efficient supervision would be a development. In this they were correct. If the present 
superintendents were to leave, their positions could not be filled at once with a group 
as efficient as they. It is now reasonable to expect a large improvement in the character 
of supervision. Where unions are well established, supervision cannot be justified 
solely on the ground that certain externals in the system are better conducted. The 
fundamental object of supervision is the improvement of instruction. 

In each of the unions visited some form of teachers meeting was held. Sometimes 
all the teachers of the union meet together. Sometimes the teachers of each town 
meet alone. In some of the unions the teachers are expected to take part in the con- 
ference and to speak on some problem connected with their work. In others the 
superintendent uses the meetings as an opportunity to distribute the supplies and 
to talk over the work expected for the term. It sometimes happens that the meetings 
are of little real value. In one town where the teachers were required to dismiss their 
school and attend a teachers meeting, a talk with practically all of the teachers on 
the following day, and an examination of the notes that had been taken by several, 
revealed the fact that the net result of the meeting for these teachers was, first, that 
children should give the proper inflection when reading sentences requiring answers ; 
second, that there should be a reading lesson at least once a week in each grade; third, 
that schools should be kept the full day ; fourth, that the teachers were drilled on 
the names of the new members of the cabinet; and fifth, that the teachers were 
drilled in parsing, analyzing, and diagraming. These are meagre returns to expect for 
the salaries the state and town paid the superintendent and teachers for this day. 



56 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

to say nothing of the loss of a day of school and the expense incurred by the teach- 
ers in reaching this meeting. There are a few teachers reading-circles. 

Superintendents who have shown acceptable ability should be assured permanent 
tenure of office. In every case their dependence for office should be removed as far as 
possible from local influences. They are the representatives of the state board of edu- 
cation, and therefore their dismissal should depend in large measure upon this body. 
Tlie unions should be responsible for the selection of the superintendents, as they 
are now, but if after one year the joint committee reelects the superintendent, then 
it should be possible to remove him only on direct appeal to the state board. 

(g) The Condition of School Grounds, Buildings, mid Equipment 
1. Rural Schools 

There arel662 schoolhouses in use. Of these 1366 are one-room buildings. Owing to 
the shifting of population and the consequent union and discontinuance of schools, 
there are 425 unused schoolhouses in the state. These unused buildings vary from 
well-built structures in good condition to those so dilapidated as to be unfit for use. 
The possibility of needing these buildings again often makes it inexpedient for the 
town to dispose of them. During 1911-12 only 15 new schoolhouses were erected. 

The estimated value of all public school property in the state is about four and 
a quarter million dollars. Taken as a whole, the rural school buildings in Vermont 
will compai-e favorably with those to be found in any of the older states. They are 
generally kept in good repair and well painted on the outside. The interior is not 
always in keeping with the exterior: the floors tend to be poor, the ceilings are often 
much discolored with smoke, and the walls are in need of paint or kalsomine. In gen- 
eral, the school buildings under direction of town superintendents were not found to 
be in good condition: they lacked paint and sometimes the interiors had not been 
cleaned for two years; the outbuildings were unsanitary, and often so out of repair 
that they provided but little privacy. 

The rural school-rooms in Vermont are commonly lighted on three sides. ^Vhen 
such rooms are filled, some pupils must occupy seats that are not properly lighted. 
The windows are generally fitted with opaque shades hung at the top, thus often 
covering the upper half of the window, the most important part, and rendering the 
middle of the room unfit for study. 

Heat is usually provided by means of box stoves that burn wood. In all of the 
schools visited there was a generous supply of good seasoned hard wood. Sometimes 
the stoves were so placed as to be a source of discomfort to some of the pupils, or 
were so worn out that the smoke became a nuisance. Some of the towns have installed 
hooded stoves, and one of the rural schools visited was heated by a furnace in the 
basement. In only one or two instances did pupils or te;\chers complain of inability 
to keep warm, although in some schools the seats were placed against the walls. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 57 

A number of devices are employed for ventilating these one-room schools. The most 
frequent means other than windows is an opening directly above the stove into the 
attic. Some of the teachers have ingenious devices of their own that they place in 
open windows to keep the draught from the children. The most satisfactory arrange- 
ment seems to be flues in connection with hooded stoves. In some places the towns 
have gone to considerable expense to put ventilators in the schools, but the instal- 
lation is unsatisfactory. In several such schools the ventilators had been closed with 
bran sacks because the children complained of the cold. Comparatively few teachers 
know how to use the ventilating system, and in no school where the system was 
other than the jacketed stove were any written directions for ventilation found. 

Most of the boys and girls of Vermont are being deprived of the one thing that 
makes city parents envy the country schools, that is, adequate playgrounds. Not more 
than one-twentieth of the rural schools visited had a school yard large enough for 
a baseball diamond, and several of those that were of adequate size were so rough 
or marshy that the children used the road in preference. The schoolhouses have com- 
monly been located beside the road, at some place where the land was of no value for 
other purposes. Some of the farmers are generous enough not to object when the 
children enter their fields to play ; others make almost violent objections. The com- 
plaint has been made that the children in the rural schools of Vermont do not play, 
but this was not the condition in the schools visited. In fact, great ingenuity was 
shown by boys and girls in organizing their play. It is no small feat to arrange a ball 
game on an ordinary country road with its deep ditches filled with water. In some sec- 
tions of the state certain societies are trying to direct the play of the school children. 
The value of such efforts is open to serious question. Play offers one of the best op- 
portunities for children to follow out their own ideas. It cannot be urged too strongly 
that one of the most effective ways to get children to play is to give them something 
to play with, and a place in which to play. The law makes it possible to condenui prop- 
erty adjacent to schoolhouses for playground purposes. None of the school gardens 
that were observed were on lots that belonged to the school. Few trees or shrubs have 
been or could be planted on the school grounds. 

The outhouses connected with rural schools always constitute a difficult problem. 
One in fifteen of the rural schools visited had a single outhouse, which is used in com- 
mon by boys and girls. The location, construction, and care of these buildings is fre- 
quently unsatisfactory, and the sanitary conditions are generally very bad. The local 
health officers have the authority to compel the school directors to keep outhouses in 
proper sanitary condition, and some of the officers use this authority with the result 
that such towns leave little to be desired in the way of good conditions. The health 
officers are required to visit the schools at least once each year, but this is not suffi- 
cient to keep them in touch with these conditions, and teachers often do not know, or 
hesitate to report, such matters. It should be said, however, that the many evidences 
of the activity of the state board of health in connection with the schools indicate that 



68 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

it is probably proceeding as rapidly as expediency allows. Its efforts are receiving 
increasing welcome throughout the state. 

The old-fashioned home-made bench and desk have almost disappeared from the 
Vermont schools. Commonly four sizes of unadjustable desks have been purchased, and 
so arranged that the largest ai"e in the rear and the smallest in the front of the room. 
By this arrangement few pupils occupy seats that correspond in height to their desks. 
In one town all of the largest seats are in one school and all of the medium-sized 
in another. In each of these schools there were children of all sizes. One school was 
supplied with the largest desks obtainable, which fitted none of the pupils, and the 
smaller children wrote with the desk coming close to their chins. A very large pro- 
portion of the children use seats so high that they cannot put their feet squarely on 
the floor while sitting upright. Some of the union superintendents have themselves 
rearranged the seats so that the proper desks and seats are together, but in general 
school officers have given too little attention to the matter of proper seating. Even 
though nothing were said about the influence that proper seating has upon pupils' 
health, the mere matter of personal comfort would make seating an important topic. 
Many of the graded and some of the rural schools have seats and desks that can 
be raised or lowered to suit each child. The first cost of this type of seats is some- 
what more than that of the older non-adjustable seats, but they are far more satis- 
factory. 

The teachers in the rural schools generally do such janitor work as sweeping and 
dusting the room. For this they are paid from twenty-five to fifty cents a week. In 
many cases it would be difficult to get any one else to do this work. The floors are 
neither painted nor oiled, and as very few towns supply anything to prevent dust 
while sweeping, the result is a suffocating cloud that settles on seats and desks, to be 
stirred up again when the teacher dusts. During the winter term most towns employ 
some one to start the fires. In one school, however, the teacher was requii^ed not only 
to care for the building and the fire, but also to split the wood, — the town did not 
even provide the axe. 

The common drinking-cup is prohibited by law in Vermont. The children are ex- 
pected to supply and to care for their own cups. A majority of the towns provide 
some kind of water tank with a faucet, but there are schools that have only a pail, 
into which each child dips his own cup, and still others where there is no provision 
for water in the school-room. In only a few schools is there any arrangement for 
keeping the cups from the dust of the room. The "cups" are of all kinds. Occasion- 
ally children have proper sanitary cups, but frequently they use the covers of their 
dinner pails, broken or cracked tea-cups, or other pieces of crockery. Attention is 
seldom given to the source of the water supply for the schools. The children merely 
get water from the nearest source, frequently from a creek or well that might easily 
be contaminated. Some of the local health officers obtain samples of the water used 
by the schools and have it analyzed. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 59 

2. Graded Schools 

Much that has been said regarding the physical conditions of the rural schools 
would apply with equal force to the older buildings of the graded schools in cities 
and villages. The rooms in the newer buildings are generally well lighted, but even 
here opaque shades often interfere with the light. In one city school building the ratio 
of window space to floor space is only one to six, the main light coming from the rear. 
In a number of rooms in this building the windows are equipped with a parted 
wooden shutter that cannot be removed, but always occupies one third of the window 
space. The older buildings are very frecjuently without even the semblance of venti- 
lation. The air was almost nauseating in some rooms that were visited. In the newer 
buildings care has been exercised in installing systems of ventilation, but the mere 
fact that a ventilating system has been installed is not a guarantee that it will be used. 
Most frequently the janitor is the determining factor in the situation. In one of the 
most modern buildings, where a first-class system of ventilation had been installed, 
the condition of the air in the school-rooms suggested an examination of the basement, 
and this showed that the fresh air inlet had been closed and the school-rooms were 
being supplied with air drawn from the coal bins and toilets. Very unsanitary con- 
ditions exist in the graded schools in some of the older buildings. The newer school 
buildings, however, have such hygienic conditions that some of them may well serve 
as models in these respects. 

' One feature of construction in many of the older buildings needs special mention, 
— the spaces under the stairs leading to the basement have been enclosed so as to 
make small storage rooms, which are often used by the janitors for waste paper and 
other highly inflammable material. Should fire start in these places, the only exit in 
many schools would be cut off. In the newer buildings this difficulty has been met by 
leaving such spaces open. 

The seating in the graded schools seldom presents as great difficulties as it does 
in the rural schools. The children in each room are more nearly of a size, so that a 
great variety of desks is not always necessary. Many of the city and village sciiools are 
equipped with modern adjustable seats and desks. Some of the schools never adjust 
seats and desks, so that for all practical purposes they might just as well be fitted 
with non-adjustable seats; others, however, make an effiart to adjust the seats as 
often as need arises. 

Most of the graded schools visited were well cared for by janitors, although here, 
as in the rural schools, the floors were often neither painted nor oiled and there was 
little use of sweeping compound for laying the dust. 

In most of the school buildings where running water is available some form of drink- 
ing fountain is usual. Where this is impossible, the proper care of drinking-cups pre- 
sents the same problem that is found in the rural schools. 



60 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

(h) Supplies 

The towns purchase the supplies and books that are used in the schools. In every 
school visited there was a dictionary, although some of these were so dilapidated that 
they were not used. Some of the rural schools were well supplied with maps, others 
had only a map of Vermont. Nearly every school had a globe. The graded schools 
were usually well supplied with supplementary readers. Many of the unions have also 
an adequate number, but some towiis not in unions are almost destitute of such books. 
The directors of some of these towns have met every request of the teachers for supple- 
mentary readers with the statement that the towns had no money, yet they purchased 
from one to four sets of a comparatively expensive reference work sold by agents, 
divided them so that one school has the volumes from A to F and another from G to L, 
and so on, and instructed the teachers to use these volumes as supplementary readers. 
A number of schools are without necessary political maps, although they are equipped 
with unnecessary blackboard maps. A variety of texts often makes it difficult to keep 
the progress of children reasonably uniform. In two unions the superintendent reported 
thirteen different arithmetics. \'ery few towns buy second-hand books. In all of the 
schools observed there was an economical use of whatever books and supplies had been 
purchased. 

( i ) Consolidation of Rural Schools 

Sparseness of population in many townships makes the conduct of schools a com- 
plicated problem. Since 1893 the state has encouraged the consolidation of the 
smaller schools and the consequent transportation of children. Schools failing to 
maintain an average enrolment sufficient to cause them to be recognized by the state 
as legal schools receive no state aid. The state furthermore refunds a poi'tion of the 
transportation expenses if the town spends a certain proportion of its assessed val- 
uation for school purposes. In \'ermont as in other states generally consolidation has 
met witli decided opposition. It has often been feared that the closing of a rural school 
would tend to lower the value of the adjacent property, but in no place where con- 
solidation was in successful operation was this argument considered valid. Often three 
generations of a family have attended the same school, and to close it is a somewhat 
trying ordeal, yet when once the jmrents have seen the advantages that consolidation 
brings to their children, they are even more enthusiastic than the children. This is 
almost universally true when the children are transported to graded schools. In places 
where transportation has not been satisfactory, the difficulty is often due either to the 
driver or to the conveyance. Parents charged that a rough boy driver had taught their 
boys to smoke, and tolerated and even encouraged disorder. Older drivers were some- 
times intoxicated. Satisfaction almost always follows when a driver is cither a fether 
or a mother of some of the children. A second soui'ce of difficulty is the type of wagon 
or sleigh used. Wagons may be so crowded that the children are uncomfortable. In 
one case six pupils and a driver used a two-seated surrey, a little girl being compelled 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 61 

to sit on the lap of an older colored boy. It is difficult to see how some of the convey- 
ances could be surpassed for discomfort or unsightliness. Sometimes other loads also are 
carried and the children are made to walk up hills and over bad roads. Sometimes suffi- 
cient blankets are not supplied. The greatest satisfaction has been experienced with 
the "school barges" purchased by some of the towns. For fall and spring these are 
spring wagons with tops and side curtains for protection from rain and sun. The seats 
extend along the sides and are cushioned. For winter use they are sleighs with closed 
tops. In none of those observed was there provision for heating, but the drivers had 
often procured soapstone or pieces of hard wood, which they heated over the school 
stove and placed at the feet of the pupils on their way home. These same objects were 
heated in the homes of the pupils in the morning and used on the way to school. Parents 
are much more inclined to favor the transportation of older than of younger children, 
particularly when children have to walk to some central place in order to meet the 
barge. In a few cases children ride as far as six miles over very hilly roads and must 
start very early in the morning, not reaching home again until dusk. 

4. Recommendations 

Many of the conditions described in previous sections require no further comment. 
Two have been selected for more detailed treatment here. 

A new course of study is needed. The steps that have been taken already in this mat- 
ter are mainly in the right direction. It is not possible for any one person to be so 
fully acquainted with all parts of the state that he can make a course suited to all 
the conditions. Since the course of study is such an important factor in instruction, 
it should be made by those primarily concerned with instruction ; namely, the teach- 
ers and superintendents, with the advice and direction of the state board of educa- 
tion. For this purpose experienced teachers and superintendents from all parts of the 
state should be organized into committees and brought together at an early date, in 
order that the general principles that shall govern the making of the course may be 
fully explained and illustrated. Not less than two years should be allowed these com- 
mittees in which to prepare a tentative course, which should then be published and 
tried in the schools for a year in order to remedy its defects before final adoption. 
There should be at least two separate courses, one for the rural schools and one for 
the gi'aded schools. Much of the subject-matter in these two courses would be the same 
but the suggestions and applications should vary greatly. The various cities and unions 
might add appropriate modifications. This method of making a course of study will 
require a careful consideration of all of the conditions surrounding the schools, and 
will result in courses adapted to the needs of Vermont. Incidentally, it will greatly 
benefit all of those who take part in the work of their preparation. 

With better courses of study in use, the problem of improving the quality of in- 
struction involves the improvement of the teachers who are already in service. In the 



62 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

section dealing with the Normal Schools and the Training of Teachers will be found 
recommendations which, if followed, will tend to give professional training to those 
who are about to teach, but under any possible system it will take a number of years 
to supply all of the schools with trained teachers. There are several ways in which those 
who are now teaching maybe helped. Teachers meetings, when properly conducted, will 
be of great assistance. The work of the union superintendents will likewise be effective. 
There is further the possibility of reading-circles such as are now conducted in many 
states. The school system as now organized is capable of providing all these means. If 
there were definite prospects of financial or professional improvement, many teachers 
would attend efficient summer schools. The most important agency in the improve- 
ment of teachers, however, would be a number of highly trained, capable supervisors, 
employed by the state board of education, w ho would spend their time in the schools, 
assisting the teachers and demonstrating proper methods. This group of supervisors 
would form the nucleus of a highly efficient summer school faculty. Two summer schools 
could be held in different parts of the state, and the teachers encouraged to attend by 
the state undertaking to increase their salaries a given amount when two or more ses- 
sions had been attended, and either increasing the life of their certificates or changing 
their grade. These supervisors, further, would render valuable assistance in making the 
courses of study. Their services should be at the command of the superintendents. 
They should be women. The type of work expected of them could not be so well done 
by men, and the tendency would be for men to become mere inspectors of schools 
rather than actual teachers and supervisors. 

MiLO B. HiLLEGAS. 



IV 
THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

S\'NOPSIS 

I. The School Material <d) The Teachers 

1. Children or Seconbary School Age '^J ^"^f.^"" """^ f-^P^™"'^^ 

<^ , W Conditions of Service 

2. Children now in bECONDARV Schools IpI instruction 

3. Children not in School 6. The Curriculum 

II. The Schools '■*' Educational Aspects 

(b) Financial Aspects 



1. Number and Size 

2. Differentiation 



III. The Product 



3. Distribution ^- Records and their Fitnction in Educa- 

4. i'HYSICAL JCiOUIPMENT ^ n, tt r. 

, „ A T 2. iHE Unfinished Product 

5. Personnel of Administration and In- „ -t- r. x^ 
struction ■'• ^^^ riNisHED Product 

(a) The School Committee IV. DEFINITION OF A SECONDARY ScHOOL 

(b) The Superintendent 

(c) The Principal V. Vermont's Secondary School Prob- 

(a) Training and Qualifications LEM AND A SUGGESTED SOLUTION 

ib) Conditions of Service irr c r» 

(c) Supervision ^ •■■ SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 

INTRODUCTION 

The information that forms the basis of the present discussion has been drawn chiefly 
from two sources. The first is a series of questionnaires, that brought together the 
essential statistical facts relating to attendance, withdrawal, failure, curriculum, and 
program in the schools, together with the important items in the training and pres- 
ent service of the teachers. Replies to these were secured from all but two' of the 77 
high schools in the state and from many of the academies. Those from high schools 
were tabulated, and have been analyzed in the following pages. The second and 
more important source of information was the personal visitation during parts of 
four months, March to June, 1913, of 36 out of the 77 high schools in all parts of 
the state and of seven of the 19 academies. Each visit usually included a conference 
with the principal and attendance upon several classes, so that about 110 of the 251 
full-time high school instructors came under observation. Of the 36 high schools 
inspected, 18 had four or more teachers, six three teachers, seven two teachers, and five 
one teacher; five were remote from the railroad. An effort was made at every point to 
avoid purely formal standards and to reach a just estimate of the final inner and 
local worth of what was seen. 

It will be noted that the treatment is limited almost exclusively to the high schools. 
While it is true that these are of primary interest to the state, and are the express 
object of the enquiry, there is no desire to ignore the important service that the pri- 
vate academies have rendered in the past, and are still rendering. There was, how- 
ever, a manifest reluctance on the part of certain of these academies, notably one of 

* Windsor and New Haven replied only in part. 



64 



EDUCATION IN VERMONT 



the largest, to make public the information desired ; it was therefore determined to 
confine the detailed analysis to the high schools. Except as a matter of statistics, this 
exclusion is not so important as might at first appear. Certain academies serve a spe- 
cial purpose in their affiliation with particular religious bodies, and on that account 
hardly fall within the limits of this study. Most of the others are in all essential par- 
ticulars the high schools of their respective localities, and in so far as they were ob- 
served (Fairfax, Craftsbury, Derby, St. Johnsbury, Lyndon Centre), are in a general 
way included in the sum total of the impressions set forth below. In many cases it seems 
natural and desirable that these schools should pass into public control, following the 
procedure already repeatedly enacted throughout the state. They have nothing to 
gain from continued isolation. 



I. THE SCHOOL MATERIAL 
1. Children of Secondary School Age 
No accurate statement can be made as to the number of boys and girls of second- 
ary school age at present in Vermont. The national census taken on April 15, 1910, 
gives the following gross figures: 

Of School Age 
Apes Number of Children 

Male 48,328 

Female 46,373 

6-20 incl. 94,701 



6-9 
10-14 
15-17 
18-20 



25,962 
31,451 
18,765 
18,523 





AtS 


CHOOL 








NtiTiiher 


Per cent 


Male 




33,449 


69.2 


Female 




ss,m& 


72.0 


6-20 incl. 




66,845 


70.6 


6-9 




22,951 


88.4 


10-14 




30,391 


96.6 


15-17 




10,565 


56.3 


18-20 




2,938 


15.9 


Under 6 yean 




2,768 




21 years, and 


over 


918 




Total at School 


70,531 





An attempt has been made to correlate these figures with the returns from the 
school censustakenin.Iune, 1910, but witho\it success; the two sets of data are clearly 
incomparable. The result would appear to show that the school census is untnistwor- 
thy, especially for the secondary age, and the same conclusion was reached as the 
result of personal enquiry. 

Taking the national census as a basis, and assuming the ages from 15 to 18 inclu- 
sive to be the normal ages for secondary schooling, the state has 24,939, or in round 
numbers 25,000, children to educate in this way. If the organization should be modified 
to meet the suggestion that the secondary school is properly the school for youth dur- 
ing adolescence, this number would be materially greater. With the ages 13 and 14 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 65 

included in the new unit, the secondary school must face the task of training 37,500 
children. These are the figures for 1910, but it is not probable that the numbers in 
1913 would be materially different. 

Of the racial, social, financial, and educational conditions of these children no sys- 
tematic account is attempted by the school census. What can be gathered from the 
national census is of the most meagre and general character. It is only when brought 
face to face with the nature and dimensions of its own concrete problem that a school 
can hope to plan a solution. A thoroughly satisfactory school census, made under 
the supervision of the superintendent and affording information of real importance 
about the children, would go far toward bringing school and children together. 



2. Children now in Secondary Schools 
It appears fi'om the national census figures given above that, in 1910, at least 
11,500 and probably 12,000 children, from 15 to 18 years inclusive, were attending a 
school of some kind between September 1, 1909, and Apiil 15, 1910, when the census 
was taken. This would be approximately 48 per cent of the 25,000 from 15 to 18 
years, inclusive. Of this number a large although uncertain portion were probably in 
the higher elementary grades. The net enrolment of secondary pupils from the state 
reported in high schools and academies in Vermont in 1912 was 6680.' With the addi- 
tion of 186, the number of tuitions paid by towns in extra-state schools, the total 
becomes 6866. This total excludes such students as are attending high schools or 
academies independently outside the state, probably few. It includes students under 
15 years of age and over 18, — a very considerable proportion, which, in the various 
high school censuses that have been secured, rarely fails below a sixth of the attend- 
ance and is often as high as a fourth. With the above total reduced by one-sixth, 
therefore, about 5722, or approximately 23 per cent, of the 25,000 children in Vermont 
from 15 to 18 years of age appear actually to be receiving secondary instruction in 
schools organized for that purpose. 

3. Children not in School 
There are, then, 77 per cent of the children of secondary school age whom the sec- 
ondary school does not reach. To be sure, many may still be in the elementary school 
waiting for legal age to release them. Reasons will be offered later why they, as well 
as those below them, as far down as the seventh grade, should properly be in a school 
of different type from the usual elementary school. A considerable number may have 
attended the high school for a short time and then have dropped out because of 

* The state statistics for secondary instruction, 1912 (page 192), give a total of 9296 "advanced students." It becomes 
evident, however, on examination of the items, that tliis total is reached througli duplication and the inclusion of 
students in elementary schools. From the same report, pp. 610 and 616, 6867 + (1633 - 320) — 6680 



66 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

failure or lack of interest, or possibly because of financial necessity. Certainly a vast 
number of children are never reached by the secondary school at all. What does this 
mean for Vermont? Is it a rational notion that all children can profit by and should 
have a formal, well-planned adolescent education, just as all now agree that all chil- 
dren must without fail be given a thorough pre-adolescent education.'' If a kind of 
school can be devised where every boy and every girl may be reasonably sure of achiev- 
ing genuine success in certain profitable directions, where they may have the attitude 
of success bred in them as a habit, is it worth while that every child should attend.'' 
To one to whom the affirmative of these propositions admits of no doubt, the further 
problem is two-fold : first, so to organize education that it may have a clear and un- 
disputed value, — that it may reasonably expect a successful issue with every child; 
and second, to make this value clear beyond question to every parent. The parent must 
be taken on the ground where he stands ; the value promised for his son or daughter 
must not be fictitious, or vague, or too far distant; it must appeal. Legal compulsion 
for the secondary school age may come as a social safeguard, but it is far better to 
lay upon the school the burden of making secondary education so vital, so indispen- 
sable to each child, that it will become general of itself. 



II. THE SCHOOLS 

1. Number and Size 

The establishment for secondary education in Vermont consists of 77 high schools 
supported by public taxation and 19 academies operating on private foundations. 
These have all received the formal approval of the state superintendent. There will 
be found in Part III a table showing the high schools arranged in four groups ac- 
cording to the number of their full-time teachers, and indicating their enrolment and 
official classification in 1912-13. 

In this table it will be seen that of the 5584 pupils enrolled in Vermont high schools 
in 1912-13, 3586, or 64.2 per cent, were in schools having four teachers, or more; 
1095, or 19.6 per cent, were in three-teacher schools; 623, or 11.2 per cent, in two- 
teacher schools; and 280, or 5 per cent, in one-teacher schools. Schools of one and two 
teachers constitute 48 per cent of the whole number of schools; while if three-teacher 
schools be included, the small schools make up 70 per cent of the total number. This 
basis of grouping has real significance for a proper understanding of the situation, 
and the detailed treatment which follows will use it frecjuently. 

2. Differentiation 

All of these 77 high schools are closely similar in type. Tliey are organized in 
about the same fashion, are based upon the same fundamental traditions, and in 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 67 

general have the same aims. The curriculum in each consists of the traditional col- 
lege preparatory course, or its close derivative, more or less enriched with semi- 
vocational opportunities in commercial subjects, domestic science, manual training, 
or agriculture. The method and the spirit of instruction, however vastly they may 
differ in their essential quality in different schools, are yet remarkably uniform in kind 
and reveal the same general source. 

A mechanical differentiation of high schools, provided for by law, recognizes four 
types of schools : " First class, a school of a four-years' course or courses; second class, 
a school of a three-years' course or courses ; third class, a school of a two-years' course 
or courses; fourth class, a school of a one-year course or courses." In accordance with 
this provision there are at present 57 first class high schools ; 3 second class; 15 third 
class, and 2 fourth class. The academies, 19 in number, are all of the first class but 
one, which is rated as third. A classification of this nature, although useful and consist- 
ent, is unfortunate in its terminology. " Four-year" schools and " three-year" schools 
would be clearly understood; "first class," as used here, is inevitably misleading. As 
there is no further classification, a school in the "first class" becomes for many 
minds a first-class school, which is quite a different matter. Seventy-four per cent of 
the schools are in the " first" class. Only one two-teacher school is not so listed, yet 
schools of this type must of necessity be of very inferior grade, as will be shown later. 
Steps should be taken to con-ect this confusion. At present the term "first class" is 
undoubtedly capitalized for false advantage. Parents and pupils are misled as to the 
real nature of the institution, and discovery of the ti-uth is likely to be a rude awaken- 
ing. With accrediting bodies outside of the state the names give a wrong impres- 
sion of the state's educational sincerity. Worst of all, it is important to note that the 
state, by such definition, sacrifices its most potent means of educating a given com- 
munity to a true idea of what an efficient school is. A genuine classification, on the 
other hand, based upon several counts which really determine efficiency, would arouse 
local ambition to secure the highest rating obtainable, or would, at least, reconcile 
a community to a low rating for good reasons. A skilful use of state aid to reward 
conditions leading to a high rating would assist in bringing about this result. 



3. DiSTElBDTION 

A high school map of Vermont shows a natural distribution of schools over the 
state, conforming well to the varying density of population, and in general acces- 
sible to the regions that they serve. Ten of the 19 one-teacher schools are well off 
the railroad,' while of the two-teacher schools, but 3 are so placed.^ All the other 
high schools are directly accessible by railroad or trolley. It is not without interest 

* Benson, Brookfleld, Cabot, Corinth, Middletown Springs, Montgomery Centre, Pawlet, Shorebam, Waitsfield, 

Weston. 

' Chelsea, Franklin, and Jericho. 



68 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

to note that 6 of the smaller schools are about three miles or less from other larger 
schools;' and that 15 small schools are seven miles or less from other larger insti- 
tutions.^ There is direct railroad connection between the two towns in each of these 
cases, and at Winooski, West Rutland, and North Bennington there is electric ser- 
vice as well. 

4. Physical Equipment 

The grounds, buildings, and interior equipment of the 36 high schools visited were 
so varied as to make a brief description impossible. It is, however, this very element 
of variety that is chiefly significant. From a plot of ground barely wide enough to con- 
tain the building, the accommodations range through all degrees of spaciousness to an 
ample campus with an eleven-acre lot in its rear for school gardens and sports. One 
finds buildings varying in excellence from old wooden structures with high, deep-set 
windows, wretched light, and worse ventilation, to new schoolhouses of admirable de- 
sign. Unfortunately the new is not always admirable : one building that had been oc- 
cupied less than three months was ah-eady outgrown in some respects, and was full of 
mistakes that a state inspector might easily have set right in the plan, but which must 
now be endured for twenty years. The toilet facilities were, on the whole, good, but 
their arrangement was occasionally most objectionable, and their care in many cases 
deplorable. Children learn more from what they see and from the way they are treated 
than from anything they are told, and while much dogmatic instruction fails, the effect 
of such influences is sure. Janitor service is put to a severe test in March and April, 
when the schools were visited, but some of the buildings were apparently spotless, with 
clean, well-oiled floors and clear air. In others the janitor appeared to be active only 
at long intervals. This negative evil is, however, preferable to a proceeding witnessed 
in one of the largest schools in the state. Here the janitor vigorously swept the dry, 
unoiled floors in the midst of the morning session and as pupils were passing. The 
principal declared that he had protested repeatedly, but with no result. 

Equipment for instruction is present in the same extraordinary variety: one "first- 
class" college-preparatory school teaches the principles of physics entirely without 
laboratory or apparatus, all concerned depending with a mystified resignation on the 
text-book. Another school commands individual experiment tables and a fine de- 
monstration theatre. Improvised devices of every description testify to the ingenuity 
and devotion of perplexed instructors and the " firmness" of the school committees; 
while here and there, on the other hand, really good equipment is inexcusably neg- 
lected. Libraries vary from a dictionary and an encyclopedia, supjjlemented by a few 
volumes loaned by the teacher, to collections of several hundred volumes. Here, too, 
a false relation seems often to exist ; some schools are working a slender store of books 

' Hyde Park, Pittsford, Proctorsville, Royalton, West Rutland. Winooski. 

'Bethel, Gaysville, HishKate Centre, Newbury, New Haven, North Bennington, Orleans, PlainHeld, Proctor, in 

addition to the preceding. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 69 

almost beyond their capacity, while others appear wholly oblivious to the existence 
of a considerable collection. 

It is apparent to any one viewing the situation at large that the most pressing 
need of the whole system of physical equipment is some measure of standardiza- 
tion. Certain effects of carelessness, forgetfulness, ignorance, and unwillingness can be 
counteracted in no other way than by criticism from above. A poisonous ventilation, 
or a disreputable closet, should deprive a school of state support as soon as discov- 
ered ; and it should be impossible for them to go long undiscovered. Such functions 
of state inspection are obvious and easy. The profitable use of the more difficult 
opportunities of a general officer depends upon the calibre, expertness, and industry 
of the man. The best way of doing many things in education is already well under- 
stood, but it is not easy to find a man with tact and persuasive power who will sit 
down with a school committee and convince them of the economy of ample grounds 
for a new schoolhouse; who will revise and elaborate plans for buildings, or sug- 
gest suitable rearrangements to an inexperienced principal. Yet it is for precisely 
such aid and information that schools should properly look to the state department, 
and money expended in personal service of this character will in the end be saved 
many times over. 



5. Personnel of Administration and Instruction 

A. THE school CO.MJIITTEE 

In the absence of any appreciable amount of state supervision, the local to^vn author- 
ity becomes the ultimate determining body in all school problems, and is, therefore, of 
fundamental importance. The limited time of the enquiry prevented any extensive 
study of the school committee from the point of view of the secondary school.' Some im- 
pressions of the character of these bodies were gained, however, from interviews with 
their members and with school officers. In fully nine-tenths of the cases it was declared 
by the school principals, with the greatest apparent sincerity, that the committee was 
"a good one," "fine," "first class," and so on. In most schools official visits from mem- 
bers of the committee were rare, and the principals were given a free hand. Finan- 
cial expenditures were invariably closely scrutinized, and the chief complaints were of 
what was considered by the schoolmen as false economy on the part of the committee- 
men. This is a point in the system of complete town control at which state supervision 
would be most beneficial. It was apparent, however, that on the whole the school com- 
mittees take the position of defenders and promoters of the school. An able prin- 
cipal or superintendent can usually more than hold his own, and can easily become an 
educative force in the community. 



^ The school committee is discussed further in the study of tlie elementary schools. 



70 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

B. THE SUPERINTENDENT 

An account of the history and present status of the superintendency in Vermont 
and of its relations to the elementary school wiU be found elsewhere in this report. 
Thus far the contact of the superintendent with the secondary school has been 
slighter than with the elementary school, but is, nevertheless, of great importance. 
The efforts to place the entire school system of a locality under a single, competent 
control have, in many towns, broken down from lack of funds. To add suddenly to 
the budget a salary larger than any other in the s\stein for purposes solely of super- 
vision has been too great a step for most towns, even in association with others. Con- 
sequently men secured at a minimum salary have not always proved to possess ade- 
quate qualifications. As was to be foreseen where authority was not defined at the 
outset, friction has occurred between these men and the experienced, relatively well- 
paid high school principals, and in some cases still exists. Where the superintendent 
is really a trained administrator and the stronger man, as he should be, he has domi- 
nated the situation. Sometimes the field has been divided amicably, each wisely 
profiting from the other's suggestions. Undoubtedly, in a period of transition like 
the present, each situation should be arranged on its merits and no attempt be made 
to push theory too far. It is, nevertheless, beyond question that each community or 
group school system should have its one thoroughly trained supervising head. Espe- 
cially is this true now with the gradual increase of emphasis upon the social basis 
of education. If the school is no longer to be the luxury of the selected few who 
can fit it, but society's best tool for making every item of humanity as broadly and 
happily productive as possible, such an enterprise must be in charge of a responsible, 
expert mind capable of viewing and meeting the problem as a whole. Only so can 
the superintendent interpret efficient education to the public and create a public 
opinion that will support more and better schools, at the same time that he seeks to 
develop schools increasingly worthy of support. 

It is, moreover, a great advantage to every participant in school work to have lead- 
ership of this sort; the principal of the high school is not the least benefited. It is 
almost as inevitable as it is an unfortunate tendency for an ambitious and able prin- 
cipal to conceive of his school as a fine machine, the first business of which is to run 
smoothly and with apparent success. Pupils who do not take to the traditional sub- 
jects, and hence do not fit in the machine, make trouble, and are discarded with scant 
regret. To destroy the sanctity of this mechanism and to persuade the principal to 
teach children — all children — instead of feeding the machine, is usually the task 
of the superintendent. Further, in the smaller schools with rapidly changing princi- 
pals, a superintendent is indispensable for the continuous success of the school. Of the 
33 one-teacher and two-teacher schools that have been in operation over one year, 
22, or 67 per cent, had new principals in 1912-13. Even in the first group of large 
schools, 7 of the 23 principals, or nearly one-third, are new men. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 71 

Thus, that the town may have an intelligent and responsible head for its whole 
educational undertaking; that some one commanding the complete situation may 
be in controlling relations with all workers in the system; and finally, that schools 
may enjoy a steady and continuous policy, independent of rapid changes within; — 
all of this calls for a strengthened, unitary superintendency, including the secondary 
schools. 

C. THE PRINCIPAL 

(a) Training and QiialiJication,i 

The facts concerning the training, qualifications, experience, and present perform- 
ance of the high school principals in \'ermont have been gathered from their own 
reports to the commission, and may be found summarized in Part HI. From this it 
appears that of the 23 principals of larger schools only four have had any formal ped- 
agogical training, and only one such training as might be expected of a professional 
educator in a supervisory position. This does not, of course, do complete justice to the 
situation. The median age of this group is high (37 years), and the development of 
educational training for supervisors is recent. Moreover, there is every reason to be- 
lieve that most of these men have done such private study as to keep them familiar 
with current educational movements and problems. This appears clearly in their work. 
Nevertheless, private study is an uncertain factor to rely on when thorough train- 
ing can be had, and men going into supervision hereafter should be expected to offer 
evidence of a systematic study of their profession. Six report no training whatever 
subsequent to their college course. This, if true, seems difficult to excuse in a day of 
numerous and effective summer schools. 

Inasmuch as the work of principals in Vermont schools is largely instruction, it 
seems appropriate here to note their apparent preparation for teaching, as far as that 
appears in their reports. These show that of the 90 subjects' now being taught by 
the principals in the larger schools, only 17^ received fairly continuous attention in 
their preliminary training, that is, were studied more than two years in college, and 
became, therefore, in a sense, specialties. Seven of the 90 subjects were taught with- 
out any formal preparation whatever; the instruction in 12 depended on courses taken 
in high school; and 54 had as a basis less than two years of college work, — many 
of these but a term or two. Three principals replied ambiguously, but received liberal 
benefit of doubt. 

Any one familiar with high school conditions will understand that these returns 

' This number is the assresate of all of the subjects taught by all of the principals. Languages are each considered 
as one subject; the different fields of mathematics, history, and science are considered as different subjects; com- 
mercial branches are grouped as one subject. Two years of college work in any one science counted as advanced 
preparation. In mathematics, over two years of college work in any form of mathematics counted as advanced 
preparation for each high school subject in mathematics. 

'Latin. 6; English. 4; Mathematics, 3; Greek, 2; German, 1; French, 1; Chemistry, 1;13 out of the 23 teachers h,ad no 
" special" 8ubject. 



72 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

are fairly representative of the whole country. The demands of a possible teacher's 
profession have rarely troubled the college student in making up his course; he 
browses with clear conscience in many fields, and when, finally, he determines to teach, 
a sharp spurt called "working it up'' occurs during the vacation previous to the 
"teaching," if not indeed frankly in course of the "teaching" itself; and shortly he 
stands forth — an "experienced"' teacher. Few indeed are the teachers in this country 
who have not been through this process, and who do not boast of their results. AVhen, 
moreover, the teacher achieves a principalship, he has long since learned to move 
blithely from one subject to another almost regardless of his knowledge. This is half 
expected, as the principal must needs step in as substitute; but not seldom the sheer 
desire for variety or the attraction of a particularly good class induces a teacher to lay 
utterly incompetent hands on a group of pupils. The secret of all this is to be found 
in the text-book system, in some few respects the pride, but in many more the de- 
spair, of sound American education. It is delightful, having acquired the suitable 
pedagogical manner and vocabulary, to assist the text-book in running a good class! 
Needless to say, were a teacher required to organize and to present his material ef- 
fectively, independently of text-book compilers, it would be essential for him to learn 
his lesson years instead of hours before the recitation. There can be no doubt that the 
greatest need of American secondary education to-day is thorough reconstruction at 
this point, — the preparation of the teacher, — and Vermont should meet it vigorously. 
Out of 90 subjects that the head-masters of the largest high schools in Vermont are 
teaching, all but 17 are being taught with a formal preparation far inferior to that 
which a German secondary teacher receives before entering the university. On top of 
this training the German puts four years, at least, in special study, largely concen- 
trated on the one major subject and two minor subjects that he expects to teach. 
Then, after a full year's study of the strictly pedagogical side of his work, and an- 
other full year of practice-teaching under critical supervision, he is ready for appoint- 
ment. Naturally he speaks with authority on the subjects that he teaches; he is 
not allowed to attempt instruction where he cannot. To be sure his Gymnashan is of 
somewhat greater range than the high school ; he stands to-day, nevertheless, as he 
has long stood, a profoundly significant example to the American high school of how 
a teacher should be prepared. 

Sixteen, or 20.8 per cent, of the secondary principals in 1911-12 were without pre- 
vious experience in teaching or supervision. One conducted a three- teacher school, seven 
two-teacher, and eight one-teacher schools. 

(b) Conditions of Service 
The conditions under which high school principals work are, on the whole, an im- 
poi-tant criterion of the level of the whole service. Two principals in the state receive 
over $2000 a year. The highest salary paid is S2400 ; the lowest paid to a princi- 
pal in a school of four or more teachers is $1050. Between these limits range the sal- 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



73 



aries in the 23 largest schools in the state, with a median at $1500. When one con- 
siders the limited size of the cities and towns where the schools are located, it will 
be admitted that these salaries are relatively good. In only seven cities and towns is 
there over 7000 population; six other places have over 4000. Unfortunately, however, 
the quality of personal service is not a relative matter; it cannot be too strongly em- 
phasized that $1500, which may look large in a town of 4000, is not the equivalent 
of $3000 in a town of 50,000. With certain undetermined variations due to local con- 
ditions, towns get, in trained service, not a relative value in proportion to their wealth, 
but an absolute value according to what they pay. A thousand-dollar high school prin- 
cipal is, after all, probably worth a thousand dollars. And a town that concludes to 
pay $2000 instead of .$1000 for its principal can be fairly certain of getting an arti- 
cle the increased value of which is commensurate with the increase in price. From an 
absolute standpoint, the salaries of principals in Vermont are low, and better train- 
ing and greater skill are indissolubly bound up with greater appropriations. 

A further important consideration that conditions the success of a principal is 
the continuity of his service. Assuming that he has ideas and initiative, and can de- 
velop a "policy'" for the growth of the institution, it is indispensable that he have 
some time in which to work this out. He must have a chance to study his committee 
and community; to understand the pupils and the parents; to select his assistants and 
organize their work ; in short, to lay out his campaign on long lines befitting the im- 
portance of the task. Clearly, the man who is principal " by the year," and views him- 
self and his work in that light, is nothing but the hired man of his committee. What- 
ever he does must of necessity lack perspective, coherence, and breadth of purpose. He 
takes no root either in the school or in the town, and thereby sacrifices a great part 
of his potential effectiveness. 

The condition of Vermont high school principals in this respect is shown in the 
following table: 

Tenure of Position among High School Principals 





Changes in 5 years 
1908-12 


Changes in 2 years 
1911-12 




Possible 
Changes 


Actual 
Changes 


Percent 


Possible 
Changes 


Actual „ . 
^. Per cent 
Changes 




92 

68 
70 

■to 


22 
19 
40 
30 


23.9 

23 
57 
75 


23 

17 
18 
15' 


7 30.4 




4 23. S 




11 
11' 


61.1 




73.3 








270 


111 


41.1 


73 


33 


45.2 



It appears from this that nearly one-half (45 per cent) of all the high schools 
changed their principals during two years, — the larger ones to the extent of 30 per 



* Four schools have been organized but one year and therefore had no change of principals. 
*0ne school had three principals in two years. 



74 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

cent; the smaller schools were fairly kaleidoscopic (73.3 per cent). So far as is known, 
this rapid shifting from place to place is not due to fickleness on the part of the 
school committee. Natural promotion to a better paid principalship or to a super- 
intendency seems to have been the usual course. If this is the case, it becomes clear 
that this weakness is economic in character; a better paid man would stay longer. One 
cannot blame a school committee for preferring to the prolonged services of one poor 
man single years of service from several good men in the making; at present this seems 
to be the only solution where funds are limited. As a result, the school committee 
must furnish whatever continuity there is and seek to correlate the efforts of its flitting 
servants as best it may, while the children must be contented with a pedagogical hash 
of widely varying ingredients. The situation is a strong argument for a pern)anent 
and capable superintendent, but even he is far from being a satisfactory substitute 
for an able principal through whom the school can express itself year after year. The 
real solution of the problem lies in a fundamental reorganization. The institution 
which these communities think they possess, and which their little schools now feebly 
shadow forth, is completely out of the question for them. No town that now i-uns a 
two-teacher high school can hope to finance the kind of secondary education that its 
youth deserve and ought to have; and its experience with its principals is only a part 
of its failure in this direction. It seems probable, however, that each of these towns 
could maintain an institution of somewhat different type, less pretentious, indeed, 
but far more genuinely effective, where an adequately trained teacher could be paid 
a fully adequate salary to become an indispensable fixture in the life of the commu- 
nity. Suggestions with this in view will be found in a later section. 

(c) Sitpcrvhion 
The primary duty of a principal is supervision, an increasingly complex task. It is 
clear, however, from an inspection of the table referred to^ that the principalship in 
Vermont is predominantly a teaching position. All but four high schools require 20 
periods or more of class work per week fi-om their principals, — an amount that is nor- 
mal for full-time teachers; all but 11 require 25 periods or more, — the maximum for 
good teaching. In all but five schools principals are teaching three or more different 
subjects with, presumably, the amount of preparation which that implies. In all but 
ten this increases to four subjects. Omitting the ten largest schools, the eleventh may 
be taken as typical, with an enrolment of 129, an average class membership of 18, 
and five full-time teachers. This typical school of the first group presents the spectacle 
of a machine that almost i-uns itself. One-third of the teachers are new,^ yet the direct- 
ing head is fully employed teaching five out of seven periods every day and actually 
handling more subjects than his full-time assistants. Schools can be held together 
under these conditions, but there is inevitably a large element of waste, of friction, 

' Pasre 70. 

' In twelve schools of the Kroup from 10 per cent to 75 per cent of the teachers are inexperienced. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 76 

and of maladjustment. No principal so employed has the opportunity or energy to 
make a proper study of his teachers and to guide or reinforce their work; and it is 
quite out of the question for him to attempt an adequate individual handling of the 
pupils. In the larger problems of school policy, such as promoting the influence of the 
school in the community, he must of necessity be greatly weakened. Hence, as is nat- 
ural, the important questions fall more and more into the untrained hands of the school 
committee, and the principal becomes merely a head-teacher. As such, it is the writer's 
repeated observation that he is overpaid. Between his salary and that of his first assist- 
ant there is a difl'erence of from $300 to .$1300. Yet his teaching is often little better 
than that of his best assistant; often, indeed, it is not so good, and is rarely so su- 
perior as to warrant so great an additional expense. In other words, in these " head- 
teachers" there is going to waste much excellent supervisory ability, — capacity for 
service which no one else can render, while they are performing work that could often 
be done as well or better at one-half the cost. It is almost impossible to make the 
average school committee, composed of laymen, understand what a good principal is. 
On the occasion of the writer's visit, a principal of a school of over 200 pupils showed 
a letter received that day from a school committee-man, criticizing him for not doing 
more "work." This principal had a regular program of 14 hours, which was usually in- 
creased to 17 or 18 by enforced substitution. The work of a principal, properly done, 
ensures that, within the limits of his appropriation and in cooperation with the super- 
intendent, the education given fits the connnunity in kind and quantity, that each 
teacher is working as effectively and happily as his ability permits, that each pupil 
is so placed as to feel a sense of power and achievement, and that each parent is in 
sympathetic and intelligent cooperation with the school. This is an arduous, difficult, 
and time-taking task, and it is vain to expect its performance of a " head-teacher." 

In the one, two, and three-teacher schools, the status of the principals is so nearly 
that of teachers that they can most conveniently be discussed under that head. 

Personal observation of principals in 35 high schools, accompanied almost invaria- 
bly by an extended conference with them, leads to the following conclusions : They are 
a hard-working and wholly devoted group of men and women, personally attractive 
and sincere. Their spirit is usually progressive, but owing to recent arrival, inexpe- 
rience, or overwork, and the resulting dependence upon their respective committees, 
many of them are not progressing. They are, almost without exception, open to intel- 
ligent suggestion or sympathetic criticism, and many show marked eagerness for it; 
an able and forceful state inspector would find them anxious to cooperate. In instruc- 
tion, as already noted, they are not greatly superior to their best assistants, except 
sometimes in the smaller schools; for the important duty of a principal they find little 
time; with instruction and clerical tasks they are heavily burdened in a wasteful direc- 
tion. Many have marked powers of leadership and, if given reasonable opportunity, 
would prove exceedingly capable supervisors. 



76 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

D. THE TEACHERS 

(a) Training- and Ed'pcrience 

As in the case of the high school principals, tlie commission received information 
concerning the general and professional training and experience of every full-time 
hnAi school teacher in the state. While some of the returns were indefinite and sus- 
ceptible of varying interpretations, it is believed that, on the whole, the summary 
that is given in Part III fairly represents the situation. 

Not counting the principals, 87 per cent of the full-time secondary teachers in Ver- 
mont are women. The median age of the group, both men and women, is twenty-six 
years. A majority of the teachers received their college education and even their sec- 
ondary training outside of Vermont, — -a situation characteristic of the past, but now 
being modified.^ In contrast with the principals, of whom but 25 per cent had received 
any pedagogical training, 50 per cent of the teachers have had serious courses in edu- 
cational theory or methods, other than history of education or so-called "teachers 
courses" in various subjects. Four of the number have done graduate work in educa- 
tion. This difference is due chiefly to the large number of young teachers who have 
taken the educational courses offered by various colleges for the first time during 
recent years. The fact reveals, furthermore, the strong and promising inclination of 
the prospective teacher to avail himself of all possible professional preparation, and 
that, too, without the slightest increase in his formal eligibility to appointment. 
Were the qualifying authority to take advantage of this training and require a given 
amount of appropriate professional study for all candidates for certificates, it would 
foster an already strong and highly desirable tendency. In respect to experience, 
the returns for the year 1912-13 show that 19.4 per cent of the 175 teachers were 
teaching in secondary schools for the first time. The number who were inexperienced 
in 1911-12 and are still teaching in Vermont high schools is 26, or 14.9 per cent. 
Among the 23 larger schools the percentage of inexperience is 13.8 per cent; among 
the two and three-teacher schools it is 22 per cent and 38.2 per cent respectively. 

(b) Conditions of Service 

General conditions of service as applied to teachers measure the character of a 
school system even more effectively than in the case of the principals. Stability of ten- 
ure, reasonable requirements permitting and demanding self-development, an expert 
supervisor to make a teacher's work count, and an adequate salary to ensure growth 
and security, — all these are conditions on which efficiency thrives, and without which 
it is well-nigh impossible. Vermont high schools are open to criticism in all of these 
respects. 

Changes in personnel in 1912 numbered 67 out of a possible 175, or 38.3 per cent. 
The schools of four teachers or more showed 31.7 per cent of new teachers; the three- 

' See table in Part HI. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 77 

teacher schools, 52.9 per cent; the two-teacher schools, 55.5 per cent; and the one- 
teacher schools, 73.3 per cent. Three schools of the first group had no new teachers; 
eight had 50 per cent or over; the median number of new teachers in the first group 
was 33.3 per cent. If it be assumed that the figures quoted represent changes ' rather 
than additions, and that they are typical of any year,^ it would appear that Vermont's 
23 largest schools undergo changes equal to their entire teaching staff slightly oftener 
than once in four years; the smaller schools, once in two years. When it is remembered 
that these are full-time teachers only, dealing with the main branches of insti-uction, 
it is clear that the effect of this continual migration is sei'ious. A boy at graduation 
would bid farewell to no one of the teachers who greeted him when he entered. Or, if 
one or two standbys remain, other departments have witnessed annual substitutions. 
This means a continual change in methods and personalities in the early stages of 
the same subjects. "Getting used to the teacher" is a continuous task for the pupil, 
while, on the other hand, the different procedure of the " last teacher " constitutes a 
no less continuous problem for the next. With such incessant shifts at its vital parts, 
a school simply cannot come to any degree of self-consciousness; it has no texture or 
coherence for its pupils, and is a weather-vane instead of an influence in the commu- 
nity. Could a staff of effective high school teachers really strike root in one of these 
to\ras and develop gradually to the full exercise of their powers, the town could have 
no greater permanent factor in its progi-ess. 

A table in Part HI gives the average number of class recitations per week taught 
by the full-time teachers in each school. The limits within which a teacher may be ex- 
jjected to do a high grade of work naturally vary with the character of the subjects 
taught, the amount of special preparation necessary, the quantity of written work 
to be reviewed and corrected, and the number of individual problems, the amount of 
bookkeeping, and the strain of class attention which the size of the class involves. It 
is generally agreed, however, that, with a normal class membership of 20 to 25, no 
teacher can hope to give successful secondary instruction with a program of more 
than 25 class periods per week, and 20 is much better. For teachers of English under 
present methods even this latter number should be reduced. Beyond 25 periods, qual- 
ity deteriorates rapidly and gives place to the merest hack work, however well meant. 
It is assumed, furthermore, in setting up this maximum, that a teacher is teaching one 
or two groups of subjects for which he has had special preparation. Three classes of 
Latin and two of German constitute a program preferable in all respects to fi^•e classes 
of Latin; but good work cannot be done with a program made up of senior Latin, 
junior physics, second-year history, first-year English, and algebra. It is only necessary 

'To what extent these are additions instead of chanses is uncertain. High school enrolment in the schools here in- 
cluded shows a net gain of but 44 pupils in 1912-13 over 1911-12. It is not likely, therefore, that the corps of teachers 
has materially increased. The report of the state superintendent for 1912 (page 611) gives the number of teachers 
in 1911-12 as 269, which, with correction for training-class teachers (here omitted) and Fairfax (here included 
amongacademies), is about the present number ; but it is not known whether these were all strictly full-time teach- 
ers. There are no exact data covering this point. 
- 26.8 per cent of the present (1912-13) teachers in the l.irger schools were new to their positions in 1911-12. 



78 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

to glance at the table mentioned to see how V^ermont high school requirements com- 
pare with this standard; 60 of the 77 schools are burdening their teachers with an 
amount and variety of work which makes excellence impossible. Unfortunately, a low 
quality of teaching is not readily detected by the lay mind, and under such conditions 
formalism, cant, and ignorance are likely to overcome the best intentions. 

In speaking of the principals, notice was taken of their limited opportunity for 
supervision. This situation reacts first and most disastrously upon the teachers. At 
the present time, in spite of the increase of more or less conventional courses in the 
theory of education, few colleges or universities supply the opportunity for what must 
be considered the least dispensable portion of a teacher's training, namely, practice- 
teaching under expert criticism. The average teacher is rarely so fortunate as to teach 
only such subjects as he has thoroughly prepared in college, and his professional tech- 
nique consists of a dim composite consciousness of all the varieties of instruction that 
he himself has enjoyed. He begins, therefore, with college methods, because they are 
freshest in his mind. To protect his scholars from injury and loss of time, if for no 
other reason, an inexperienced teacher has a right to expect constant and intelligent 
criticism and advice based upon the careful observations of his principal. For this, 
Vermont principals, except four, have no time, so that the young teacher inevitably 
stumbles along with procedures that are crude or wrong, and must stand or fall on 
the somewhat coarse and inadequate issues of whether he can " govern ^ or is popular. 
The real waste for the pupils can only be imagined. 

In respect to salai-y, finally, the same observations hold as in the case of the princi- 
pals.' The median salary of full-time teachers in the 23 largest high schools in Ver- 
mont is $650 per year. The most liberal school in the group pays S844 ; the lowest 
average paid by a school with four or more teachers is $431. These are by no means 
minimum salaries for towns of this size; but even at these salaries good teachers 
cannot often be secured, much less retained. Vermont is still paying "wages" to her 
teachers instead of salaries, and the smaller towns bargain blindly in that spirit. 
Adding $100 to a salary under $1000 earns a return out of all proportion to its 
absolute value, and the town paying $431 could increase the effectiveness of its 
teachers enormously by dividing $400 more among them. Among the three-teacher 
schools, $625 is the maximum average, while one three-teacher school pays its assist- 
ants less than $10 per week. Two-teacher schools show a maximum and minimum of 
$550 and $360 respectively. Certainly the scale of salaries jiaid should form a capital 
item in any future scheme for approval or classification of high schools. 

(c) Instruction 
The questions of what is taught and how well it is taught are of course fundamen- 
tally important. The curriculum will be discussed later. The writer's impressions of 
the way in which it is applied were drawn from contact with ninety-five teachers, who 

' See table in Part UI. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 79 

were met in short conferences or in the course of class-room instruction, or both. 
Estimates based upon brief single visits to class-rooms must, indeed, be used with 
discrimination ; in some respects, however, they are as conclusive as an exhaustive 
acquaintance. In the great majority of cases, the personality of the visitor and the 
purpose of his visit were unknown. The call was intended to create as little disturb- 
ance as possible, and usually made no apparent impression on the routine of the 
class; the caller entered and retired without ceremony. It must be said, as a result of 
this experience, that there can be nothing but praise for the personal character 
of these teachers. Almost without exception they gave the impression of being high- 
minded, naturally capable and painstaking men and women. Deep interest in their 
pupils and devotion to their progress and welfare are qualities that go far toward 
making up for any possible lack of information and skill; and in such qualities Ver- 
mont teachers are peculiarly rich. In the quality of the instniction there appeared 
almost as wide a variety as was noted in physical equipment. On the whole, it may 
safely be said that the work done is honest, faithful, and painstaking; professional 
it clearly is not, except frequently in the half-dozen largest schools and in occasional 
instances in the others. 

To be rated as "professional," it is believed that instruction must possess at least 
the following features in considerable degree : first, knowledge of the subject-matter 
must have become so comprehensive and automatic that the conscious purpose to 
instruct may always be uppermost and unembarrassed; second, class procedure 
must exhibit a reasonable insight into individual and class problems and a skilful 
application of the best modem experience in their solution; third, the perform- 
ance, both of teachers and pupils, should proceed with such assurance as to be stimu- 
lated, or at least undisturbed, under critical observation. Comparison with the med- 
ical profession in this regard is helpful and not unfair. To the surgeon professional 
behavior involves a technique that has become second nature, an adequate and ac- 
curate knowledge of modern surgical methods and resources, and a confidence that 
is finely challenged by attendant critics. The teacher should be held to a standard 
fully as high. Instruction in Vermont high schools is exceedingly vulnerable at these 
points, as it is, indeed, in the great majority of American high schools. Most of 
the teachers have the general high ideals and the goodwill bred by their college 
course. For their specific tasks they are untrained, and must grope their way either 
out of the service or into a post commensurate with whatever skill hard experience 
may give them. A majority of them are teaching subjects in which they are ill pre- 
pared; their range of information is therefore limited, and their application of it is 
likely to be timid and forceless, or else incorrect. ^ There results, therefore, to an 

* Full-time teachers report themselves as teaching an aggregate of 681 subjects, in 39 per cent of which they have had 
two years or more of college preparation ; in 42 per cent they have had less than two years, usually in scattered courses: 
14 per cent rest on high school courses, and 5 per cent had no formal preparation. It is, of course, not impossible that a 
teacher has fitted himself privately in a course for which he has had but elementary formal preparation ; also that 
there may be teachers with so-called "advanced" preparation who are much less successful with it than others with 



80 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

extreme degree, the great American pedagogical vice, — slavish dependence upon a 
text-book. ' 

Under such conditions teaching is not instruction; it is assigning pages, hearing 
lessons, and i-ecording "marks." Forty periods of this sort of recitation per week are 
not exhausting; while really to insti'uct demands power and nerve, and few normal 
minds can retain their vigor under more than 20 to 25 periods of it per week. The 
conditions indicated are reflected unerringly in the class work. Instead of striding 
forward with the confidence of sure knowledge and trusted power, as every group 
of youth loves to do if expertly led, the classes creep; response is slow and furtive; 
answers have to be "pumped" or suggested, and spontaneous reaction to the con- 
tent of the lesson is unusual. The effect of this on the pupil is depressing or harden- 
ing. In so far as instruction fails to arouse a genuine interest and develop a pleasur- 
able sense of power, it is not only negatively useless, it is a positive discouragement 
to a child's education, however loyal he may be to the teacher personally. The waste 
at this point is certainly very large. Part of the blame is unquestionably due to the 
curriculum, although even so it is the very essence of non-professionalism to be help- 
less in the grip of a rigid curriculum. Part of the blame is no doubt due to the mal- 
adjustment by which cliildren are in courses that they have no business to attempt. 
Even for that part of the waste for which the teachers are clearly responsible they 
cannot be said to be culpable. Few of them have ever had the opportunity of observ- 
ing skilful secondary instructioii with a view to studying it as such, and practically 
none has ever practised teaching under skilled criticism. A defective system that 
permits them to teach what they have not studied thoroughly, and, providing no crit- 
ical leader, loads them with an excessive number of classes, does the rest. 

The remedy for these conditions seems axiomatic, — the same remedy that has been 
efficacious in all successful school systems. First, require that the teachers know thor- 
ouglily the subjects they propose to teach. Second, require them to teach only those 
subjects. The first point, furthermore, involves a factor of great weight that is worthy 
of capital emphasis. No man proposes to entrust his body to a surgeon who has seen 
no hospital practice or never attended a clinic; in medicine we are certain that book 
knowledge is but a very partial element in practical skill. There would seem to be 
no more reason why one should entrust a child to be taught to a pei'son who has no 
clear consciousness of what successful instruction is, and has never actually done the 
work with a competent critic at hand to tell him wherein he was successful and 
wherein not. 



a mere high school fitting or no formal traininf? at all. On the whole, however, it is stroiiirly probable that the above 
figures represent the general level of professional training with fair accuracy. 

^ This is as true of those who know the lesson " without looking " as of those who scan the book for answers, and 
the latter are not rare. Any teacher who has not acquired from many sources a comprehensive knowledge of his 
subject apart from any books, who has not thoroughly organized it in his own thought, and who cannot intelli- 
gently and confidently readjust it to the current needs of a given group is open, in some degree, to this charge. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



81 



6. The Curriculum 



A. EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS 



The curriculum at present in use in Vermont high schools is based largely upon 
a series of courses drawn up by a committee of the Vermont Schoolmasters' Club, 
and approved and published by the Department of Education in July, 1907. It is 
as follows: 



Classical Cour 
Beguired: (75)^ 
English, i-iv 
Algebra, i 
Geometry, ii 
Ancient History, i 
Latin, i-iv 
Greek, ii-iv 
Mod. Lang., iii, iv 
Rev. Math., iv 



Latin Course 
Required : (50) 
English. I-IV 
Algebra, i 
Geometry, ii 
Ancient History, i 
Latin, i-iv 
Rev. Math., iv 
Elective: (25) 
Modern Language, ii-i^ 
2d Modern Language, i 
Med. & Mod. History, i 
Com. Arith. & Botany, 
Physics, III. IV 
Chemistry, iv 
Adv. Alg. &Sol.Geom.,i 



English Course 
Required : (42) 
English, i-iv 12 

Algebra, i 5 

Geometry, ii 5 

Ancient History, i 5 

Phys. Geog. &Adv.Phys. 

or Botany, i 5 

Mod. Language, iii. iv 10 
Elective: (80) 

Modern Language, ii 5 
Med. & Mod. History, ii 5 
Com. Arith. & Botany, ii 5 
Physics, III 5 

Chemistry, iv 5 

Eng.Hist.&Com.Law.iii 5 
Adv.Alg.& Sol.Geom.,iii 6 
Am. Hist. & Civics, iv 5 
Astron. & Geol., iv 5 



Commeroial Course 
Required: (57) 
English, i-iv 12 

Algebra, i 5 

Geometry, ii 5 

Ancient History, i 6 

Com. Geog. & Cor., i 6 

Bookkeeping & Com. 

Arith.. 11 5 

Stenog. & Type., iii, iv 10 
Eng.Hist.&Com.Law,in 5 
Adv.Am.Hist.&Civics,iv 5 
Elective: (15) 

Med. & Mod. History, ii 5 
Mod. Language, ii-iv 15 
Physics, ill 5 

Chemistry, iv 5 

Adv. Alg. & Sol.Geom., in 5 
Astron. & Geol., iv 5 



These courses are published as "suggestive rather than compulsory,*" but with 
minor variations they are very generally followed.^ The first, the classical course, 
has practically disappeared. Greek, its distinguishing feature, is taught in but eight 
schools to a total of 38 pupils. The Latin course is at present the mainstay of Ver- 
mont's secondary system of education: only two schools give no Latin; 41 per cent 
of the total high school enrolment (1912-13) are studying Latin, and 54 percent 
of the freshmen are entered in that course. The two remaining courses, the English 
course and the commercial course, enrolled in 1911-12 respectively 38 per cent and 
16.9 per cent of the pupils. The former is found in all schools, and constitutes the 
minimum undertaking of a high school ; the latter appears in its complete fonii (i.f., 
covering four years and including stenography, typewriting, etc.) in 19 schools, 
while courses in bookkeeping are given to advanced classes in four additional schools, 
and to the first and second year pupils in 21 more. Thirty-three schools teach no 
commercial subjects.^ 

^ Arabic numerals indicate periods per week of recitation through the year. Roman numerals indicate the year or 

years of the course when the subject after which they stand is required or, if elective, becomes available; " iv " is 

the senior year. 

^ An action of the Schoolmasters* Club, March 10. 1911, approved by the state 

form system of "credits" for promotion and graduation which furnishes one 

This is, of course, a desirable step, but success in that direction depends on 

^ These figures, except for the membership in the English and commercial 



perintendent, has introduced a uni- 
for securing greater elasticity, 
other factors, 
which was calculated from the 



Vermont School Report of 1912, are t 
the aforesaid exception, only what ■< 



wn from the program sheets submitted to the commission ; they show, with 
i actually being done in 1912-13. 



82 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The nature of these four courses becomes clearer when one compares them. In 
spirit, if not chronologically, the last three are all derived from the first. The Latin 
course seeks a substitute for Greek; the English course, for both Latin and Greek; 
and the commercial course abandons all foreign language requirements, introducing 
at the same time a vocational motive. As is well known, the order of educational pres- 
tige has been the same, the best minds being directed to the Latin or classical courses, 
while the students in the English and commercial courses lacked distinction. Four 
subjects are common to all courses : English, algebra, plane geometry, and ancient 
history. For reasons of economy, schools have never been able to differentiate in the 
treatment of these subjects for the various courses. These studies were necessary in 
preparing certain pupils for college ; therefore the same standards were established 
for all. This well illustrates what has happened to every branch of secondary instruc- 
tion accepted by the colleges for certification or examination. The feeling has been that 
certain pupils might need these subjects for entrance to college, and that therefore 
they must be taught in the manner and amount that the college has approved or 
prescribed. The curriculum has thus hardened into a system of interchangeable units, 
each having its well-established method and area measured with sufficient minute- 
ness to afford a sense of relative security — largely theoretical, to be sure — to each 
school and college official. 

From its utter dependence upon the higher institutions this system has been re- 
ferred to as the "domination of the college," and it clearly is such, both in what it 
accepts and in what it rejects.^ It has become so wholly a part of the present regime 
that few teachers realize its oppression. Of course principals sometimes take liberties, 
but these are regarded as consciously irregular and subject to apology. This domi- 
nation of the college has unquestionably brought many benefits ; it has furnished the 
chief lever in standardization of courses, and secondary education has acquired a 
unity that in some respects is a precious achievement. No one would wish to go back to 
the conditions that preceded it. But for the sound development of secondary education 
in the future the curriculum must be freed from college control. The college should in- 
deed dominate the secondary school, but its domination should be exerted through the 
teachers. What the secondary school needs is not primarily a curriculum, — least of all a 
college-made and college-guarded curriculum, — but good teaching. This is not to say 
that the curriculum be done away with; but that it must be controlled and improved 
by the schoolmen themselves, — skilled teachers in direct contact with the problems. 
The present subordination of the teacher to the curriculum must be reversed and the 
curriculum be subordinated to the teacher, if there is to be real progress. The existing 
emphasis upon the curriculum with its " points'" and "credits" and pages to be "cov- 
ered," its arbitrary standards and its logical balance of studies, has gone far to obscure 
the real meaning of education as a process of choosing and applying those things that 

' This situation is, of course, not peculiar to Vermont, but is ch.aracteristic throughout the United Stites. It is now 
being altered, to the great advantage of both school and college. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 88 

will secure the strongest and most profitable reaction in a child. The curriculum should 
not be a screen to sift out all who do not fit its meshes, but a storehouse fi'om which 
a skilful teacher may select tools wherewith to fashion his material. The important 
thing is the skiU with which the teaciier selects and applies the tools; success is due 
to his insight and technique; failure indicates poor judgment on his part much oftener 
than poor stuff in the pupil.' 

Most high schools suffer from this rigid, mechanical cumculum wrongly conceived 
and wrongly used because of the influence of the higher institutions. Vermont high 
schools are no exception. The conditions indicated are illustrated by the practice of 
the first year. In accordance with the official course of study, neai'ly every high school 
asks its first year pupils, li or 15 years of age, to divide their time equally between 
Latin grammar, English, "algebra, and ancient history. Substitutes for Latin occur, 
but, as noted above, 54 per cent of the freshmen in 1912—13 had been induced to 
take it. Several principals spoke with pride of the large proportion of first year pu- 
pils whom they had enrolled in Latin. Others recommended a single year of Latin as 
the best possible disposition of time, both as a "mental discipline," and for its effect 
on English. This attitude is illuminated by the following facts. The class of 1912 sus- 
tained a loss of about 50 per cent in its progress through high school. Besides this ab- 
solute loss, Latin, as measured by the four classes in 1912-13, sustained a relative loss 
during the course of 23 per cent.* Of all graduates in 1912, however, onlv 18 per cent 
went to college. This was approximately 9 per cent of the entering class. Only 80 per 
cent of these offered Latin for college entrance,* and for only a portion of these last 
was Latin an absolute prerequisite that was continued in college. According, therefore, 
to the best data available, we have out of every 100 entering students, 53 taking Latin, 
a subject that only 15 of them wall pursue through the high school, that only 7 will 
use for college entrance, and that perhaps 5 will continue in college to the point where 
alone in the opinion of many the labor spent upon it is justified. No one may dogma- 
tize on a point where expert opinion differs so widely. The writer, however, is frankly 
of the belief (1) that only an unusually sympathetic and industrious mind arrives 
at an appreciation of Latin authors as literature before reading them in college; 
(2) that the study of the language itself in high school alone is of marked value only 
when conducted by a teacher informed and trained as the large majority of the sec- 

^ The word "teacher" here is. of course, collective ; there is no intention of charging the individual teacher with the 
failure of the pupil in every case. 

^ The official course prescribes three periods weekly for English, but this amount is very generally increased to five. 
' Thus, in 1912-13, Latin enrolled, of first year pupils, 54 percent, of second year pupils. 40 percent, of juniors, 36 per 
cent, and of seniors, 31 per cent. This is between different groups, to be sure, and may not be typical. Yet the pro- 
portion of all pupils taking Latin has grown steadily smaller. In 1908, 49.9 per cent ; 1910, 42.6 per cent : 1912, 41.6 
per cent of the pupils in all courses given in the school reports for these years took Latin. This relative loss is par- 
tially corroborated by highly reliable data from one of the largest high schools in the state where, in 1911-12, 40.4 
per cent of the entering class in Latin dropped the subject at the end of the year, and 41.6 percent of the sophomore 
class in Latin, at the end of the sophomore year. For the five years previous to 1912-13 these percentages are 41.7 per 
cent and 41.9 percent respectively. 
* Ba.sed on reports from the ten large schools which replied on this point. 



84 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

ondary school teachers in America are not; (3) that much of the value attributed by 
Latin teachers to the study of the language in high school alone is unreal, and that 
they confuse the results of their own years of study and assimilation for what must of 
necessity be to the student the meagre returns of the initial stages; and (-1) that, given 
a staff of teachers of average information and training, but of relatively high poten- 
tial, as most American teachers are, a more stimulating and essentially more valuable 
reaction can be secured by them in English, history, or scientific subjects than in 
Latin. The inferences from these premises would be that no pupil should be entered 
in a four-year Latin course without considerable deliberation and weighing of proba- 
bilities, and that no group of pupils should be forced through an uncongenial and, to 
many, comparatively useless course, for the sake of the convenience of one or two. 

Algebra is required of practically all first year students. As taught at present it 
is thoroughly abstract, systematic, and decisive. To sensitive, emotional, unsystematic 
pupils it has no meaning. How much it might have were it differently organized, it is 
hard to say. There seems good reason to believe that a radical simplification with 
much concrete application would furnish real enrichment with little ultimate loss. 
Mathematics as a whole shows the highest percentage of failure of all subjects in 
Vermont high schools (15.3 per cent in the larger schools), whether because it can 
be measured with nicety, or because of a tendency to consider it the critical subject 
of the course, or because it furnishes a more certain psychological basis for the dis- 
crimination of ability. 

Latin grammar and algebra are plainly more or less technical subjects. I'Tiey 
may be interesting, but it would be unfair to expect them to reveal and explain to 
a youth his human environment, to quicken his insight, or to stimulate his will. These 
effects must be obtained, if at all, from English and ancient history. English instruc- 
tion, as conducted at present, consists of grammar, composition, and reading. In gram- 
mar the work includes analysis of sentences according to grammatical principles, the 
study of grammatical and rhetorical expression, and their formal application in com- 
position. In composition much wTiting is prescribed, extensively coiTected by the 
teacher and revised by the pupil, with the expectation of developing facility with 
some degree of accuracy in the use of rhetorical forms. In literature recognized classics 
by Irving, Whittier, Macaulay, Shakespeare, Kingslev, Cooper, and Homer are studied 
and discussed to arouse an interest in reading. Few teachers were found, however, who 
felt that these ends were accomplished to anv appreciable extent. The instruction in 
English involves considerable machinerv, which is operated with much pains and de- 
votion; it undoubtedly has some good effect. But the longer one watches the opera- 
tion and observes the results upon different types of pupils, the surer one becomes 
that the avowed aim and emphasis of the course is wTong. It stands for form for form's 
sake. Its devices are focused upon technique rather than upon the content that gives 
the technique significance. AVe would scarcelv teach a lad table manners by arranging 
between meals an elaborate outfit and making him go through the coiTect motions, 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 85 

but neglecting him entirely when he actually eats. Some yield to the treatment and 
take an interest in the conscious artificiality of the proceeding. Some with consider- 
able literary background and initiative may even be largely helped by it. Less adapt- 
able but sincere pupils who respond vigorously to a genuine stimulus are bored by 
the artificiality of the practice, and refuse to be imposed upon. Yet all are treated alike, 
and are marked high or low according to their reaction. There is an occasional teacher 
who, in spite of the curriculum, makes the most of the English teacher's rare oppor- 
tunity, and manages to flood the course with interest from all sources. These are teach- 
ers indeed, and more could become such if allowed to treat the curriculum as a servant 
instead of as a master. Less English grammar as medicine and more good English as 
a medium, much less correction by the way and much more appeal, conviction, and 
sense of significance, would lead to a very much higher degree of correctness at the end. 
A course crowded with information valuable for its own sake, drawn from all fields 
of literature, and accompanied always by abundant oral expression in discussions, 
applications, and interpretations, — such a course, in charge of the best teacher to be 
had, would begin to fulfil the real obligation of the school to the pupil, and in such a 
course every pupil would find his place. As for the classics, it is to be feared that they 
are defeating the very purpose for which they are used, — "to arouse an interest in 
reading." Dissected and discussed perfunctorily according to requirement, they asso- 
ciate themselves chiefly with that process and its sequel, — tests and marks. Moreover, 
many of them are much further beyond the modern youth's horizon than is generally 
supposed. No doubt but that on a broad basis of more intimate and immediate inter- 
ests the way could be paved to an intelligent appreciation of many of them, but their 
sole use as a reading program, as at present, or even their primary use, seems more 
likely to ensure a distaste for literature than its appreciation. At least one duty of 
the English teacher would seem to be to explore with the pupil and to display to him 
the characteristics of the resources of literarv satisfaction that he may reasonably 
be expected to resort to on leaving school. A healthy taste in this field would bring 
great reward. 

The last recourse available to the youth in search of light on his adventure is 
ancient history. Over 80 per cent of first year pupils in 1911-12 were coming up for 
this five times a week. The study consists of a systematic review of the world's his- 
tory, chiefly political, from early Egypt to 800 a.d., as outlined by the Committee 
of Seven in 1899. It is presented in various text-books, most of which endeavor to 
emphasize points recommended by the committee, but which also give a systematic 
survey in some form, lest the book be ruled deficient in completeness. If given com- 
prehensively, as was evidently contemplated by the committee, and under conditions 
which prevail in the majority of Vermont high schools, this course can be nothing 
other than a pedagogical monstrosity. How can a teacher fresh from college, having 
thirty-five classes per week of instruction in four or five distinct fields, and having 
usually little formal preparation in ancient history other than a similar course in high 



86 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

school, expound systematically the life-stories of two great peoples over a period of 
2000 years, to a class of boys and girls in whose experience there is usually lacking 
the faintest foothold for comprehension of the terms or ideas involved? The attempt 
issues, perforce, in a mere hand-to-mouth text-book performance, in which the teacher 
is at times fully as much at sea as the pupils. This "hearing" of ancient history at 
"so many pages a day" is not only useless; it would be difficult to devise a school 
matter or manner better calculated to produce weariness and disgust in the pupil. 
Teachers and principals who were asked, agreed almost unanimously that ancient 
history "goes badly;" that pupils "find it hard," "uninteresting," or "don't like it." 
The faithful student leaves the course, or rather the book, with a medley of strange 
names, the definition of which is governed by chance, and a series of vague and 
abstract notions of law, government, and society, which suggest or contrast clearly 
with nothing modern; not to speak of numerous dates and epochs learned for exam- 
ination and promptly forgotten. At the period of visitation the classes were dealing 
with the year 69 a.d., and on at least three occasions the details regarding Galba, 
Otho, and Vitellius were rehearsed as faithfully as though Julius Caesar had been 
under discussion. In three other classes a different atmosphere prevailed. Breaking away 
from the text-book, the teachers here were reproducing certain picturesque and sig- 
nificant personages and making them throb with life to a class that was absorbed in 
interest. Only thus has this difficult course value as education. It requires teachers 
with time, training, and imagination, to be sure, but it requires also a vision on their 
part that a response from each pupil is their great object and not the satisfaction of 
a threatening curricuhnn. 

The foregoing criticisms of the first year course as a whole are not to be taken as 
sweeping denunciation. The considerations urged are, however, believed to be a valid 
basis for the conclusion that far greater attention is at present centred upon carry- 
ing out courses as prescribed, and upon ordering work within courses as planned, than 
is spent upon securing for a given child a course that is what he needs and adapting 
its material to his interest and to the conditions of his assimilation. 

A further illustration of the effect of the curriculum and its use is found in the 
statistics of 63 high schools with regard to student failures in the year 1911-12. The 
chances of failing in a subject that year ranged from none in four schools to nearly 
one chance in four in another school, the percentage of failure going as high as 23.6 
with the median at 8.8. It is unlikely that this was due to any considerable extent 
to differences in the children in these various localities. It represents rather the widely 
varying tension in the curriculum, acting without correlation with differences of 
preparation in the pupils. In city practice social policy forces a certain uniformity, and 
the real question is evaded by an arbitrary "passing" of perhaps 90 per cent of each 
class, a practice morally questionable alike for teacher and pupil. This is not the 
case in these smaller country schools. They appear to show the honest variation in- 
herent in our present educational standards. The problem is, of course, a difficult one, 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 87 

— one that the development of improved standards of measurement alone can solve. 
From another point of view, however, the problem of failure in school is in urgent 
need of immediate and radical treatment, the nature of which is clear. In a school 
system that had for its central purpose the appropriate educational treatment of each 
child on the plane of his capacities and disposition, the problem of how many pupils 
a teacher was justified in failing would scarcely appear at all. To-day the blight that 
we call "failure" is allowed to gather and harden into a persistent mental attitude, 
as a pupil, with the sanction of his school, repeats algebra or Latin grammar from 
one to five times. This is certainly a mistake, and it is to be hoped that, as the future 
brings us more resources, we shall learn to discern the beginnings of failure as an 
order for a change of treatment, and that we shall possess the facilities and the wisdom 
to make that change with confidence and success and at once. 

Tlie first and fundamental need, therefore, is greater freedom and elasticity in order 
to meet the individual pupil. This established, there is pressing need that the curricu- 
lum be expanded to meet the enlarged function of the present-day school. Planned 
originally for but a single type of pupil, and at a time when the aim of secondary edu- 
cation had by no means attained its present scope, its resources to-day appear meagre 
and insufficient. At a time in a child's life when he is most stimulated and perma- 
nently influenced by the reality of his surroundings, Vermont offers him through the 
all-important first two years in high school a treatment that is exclusively bookish 
andean be nothing else; a half course in botany is the sole exception. A state whose 
economic and social problems are bound up with agriculture, Vermont has a high 
school curriculum that is appropriate to a metropolis. Less than ten per cent of the 
pupils in Vermont high schools go to college, but the studies that the colleges require 
of them crowd out from the cun-iculum all forms of instruction, aside from commer- 
cial branches, that might make the other nine-tentiis of the students happier and 
more efficient in their future occupations, whether they be farming or business, teach- 
ing or home-making. Praise is due to the state department of education that changes 
in these respects have long been preached and, in places, already initiated in Vermont. 

Of these newer subjects commercial education is the oldest and best understood. 
In 1911-12, 16.9 per cent of the enrolment were in commercial courses,. — an increase 
of three per cent over 1909-10. These were chiefly in schools giving a four-year com- 
mercial course, of which in 1913 there were 15 large schools and four three-teacher 
schools. Although this course seems to have been invented to catch the waste of other 
departments and to have received scant honor in its own right,^ there is now a strong 
tendency to strengthen and dignify it, to build out the two-year into four-year 
courses, to increase the emphasis on economics, scientific salesmanship, and business 
organization, and to make the course in every way the peer of any other. It is the 
repeated experience of principals that boys and girls well launched into this work 

*It exists to-day in several schools as the "easy" course, where the community makes no demand for its product and 
where it is pursued solely in order to "graduate." 



88 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

speedily drop the characteristic aimlessness of the high school and become seriously 
enthusiastic, — such is the transforming effect of a concrete, intelligible objective. 
Domestic science, agriculture, and manual training have made their way into some 
of the larger schools. In 1913 domestic science enrolled 4 per cent of the total num- 
ber of pupils, agriculture, 2 per cent, and manual training, 1 per cent. Two or three 
of the largest schools are admirably equipped for domestic science and manual train- 
ing, with competent, trained instructors and adequate apparatus. The appearance of 
these courses elsewhere demands a word of caution. Nowhere is there greater need 
of a sympathetic but clear-headed state inspector and adviser. An enthusiastic and 
ambitious school principal, a slow-moving and skeptical school committee, and a very 
little money are the usual factors. All concerned are anxious to get the proposed en- 
richment listed in the catalogue; not all are so particular that its fulfillment be of 
a nature that is educationally sound or that ensures success. Hence it happens, as one 
visit showed, that " domestic science" may resolve itself into a joint effort of the his- 
tory or English teacher and the class in " Home Economics" to cook after school over 
a single gas-burner in a recitation room; or a willing ninth-grade instructor teaches 
" manual training" to restless boys gathered about the janitor's work bench in a dark 
cellar. Agriculture appears to make less insistent demand for a laboratory. As a result, 
every course in "agriculture" but one is being taught directly out of some book, 
by a teacher whose chief qualification is that he or she was "brought up on a farm," 
and occasionally even that qualification is missing.* It is granted that all of these 
efforts have elements of worth, and the interest and enterprise of the teachers who 
are spending themselves at such a disadvantage are wholly commendable. It need 
hardly be said, however, that the actual work done in such cases can be only meagre 
and superficial, and that the project ought in every instance to receive more time, 
study, and preparation before it is launched. School committees should be illumi- 
nated by observing such work at its best elsewhere. The education of connnittees in 
this way has already produced unexpected results in Vermont. With intelligent sup- 
port, new departures can be organized in a manner calculated to vindicate their 
worth to both pupils and parents. 

To meet a special need, training-classes for teachers in elementary schools have 
recently been introduced into the high schools under the close supervision of the 
state superintendent of education. In their relation to the training of teachers these 
classes are fully dealt with elsewhere. From the high school jioint of view these classes 
constitute an admirable vocational course for girls. The training teachers have gen- 
erally been selected with great success — skilled women, who are usually the best paid 
and not seldom the strongest teachers in their respective schools. As they exist to- 
day, however, probably because of their recent introduction, the training-classes have 
one marked weakness, namely, their extremely loose articulation with the school where 

* Of the ten teachers professing to teaehagriculture in Vermont hiprhschools, outside of Morrisville, one only reports 
a course of training in the subject ; this one had six weeks in the University of Vermont summer school. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 89 

they happen to be. Juniors entering the training-class break off completely the courses 
they have undertaken before. A sepai-ate room, a separate teacher, and a wholly spe- 
cialized subject-matter perfect the isolation in which they work. This seems both 
unnecessary and unwise. The distribution of the work of these students on a two-year 
or three-year basis would permit them to complete certain studies with the rest of the 
school, and would coordinate their specialty with the other courses of the school. This 
would tend to their benefit as teachers, and it would certainly contribute much to 
the unity of the school itself. 

The teaching of agriculture is of such surpassing importance to the welfare of Ver- 
mont that a defense of it is unnecessary. It may be in place, however, to indicate why 
such instruction should be shared by the high school rather than be given solely by 
special schools organized for the purpose. Three reasons are important : first, vocational 
training from its very nature is local in its demand and, when well worked out in 
special schools, is exceedingly expensive. A rural population must wait long for an 
adequate supply of such schools; its high schools, however, can, with comparative econ- 
omy and success, inaugurate at once such courses as shall serve large districts fairly 
well. Secondly, because the really efficient high school is the place where, with skilled 
help and advice, each boy or girl may try out, in a varied and stimulating environment, 
his or her own personal disposition and resources, and discover, if possible, where his 
grip on the world is surest and most likely to be permanent. In the special school a 
pupil has only one outlook ; in the high school having several associated courses the 
meaning of many professions appears from all sides, and the pupil may discover new 
interests and change liis plans, if need be, without difficulty. The third reason is that, 
if agriculture is to command the best brains of Vermont youth, agricultural study 
must win for itself recognition as the equal of any other form of school pursuit. This 
it can do most successfully in direct association with other courses. Trained apart and 
in rural isolation, the "Aggies" will long suffer from a false but deeply rooted dis- 
•paragement. On the other hand, if thev are matched directly with students in other 
courses, the opportunity presents itself for schoolmen who have Vermont's problem 
at heart, to intensify and dignify agriculture to the point of wholly transforming the 
attitude of all secondary students toward it. It is a pressing duty of the high schools 
in Vermont to display fairly the power, resources, and significance of the fiirm. If these 
are genuine, they can and must be shown to be so; if they are fictitious, and if the 
end sought must be attained by segregation and withdrawing boys from other op- 
portunities, then no needs of the state, whether fancied or real, can justify the policy. 

Finally, it is worth while to sum up in a word the principle that it is believed 
should underlie the admiTiistration of the high school curriculum. No study or group 
of studies has any importance for its owii sake; its value consists altogether in the 
extent to which it assists a teacher in bringing a pupil into those relations with his 
environment that are agreeable, stimulating, and promising for him personally and 
profitable to society. The curriculum should include any body of instruction that 



90 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

can be successfully organized to this end and for which there is a demand. But its real 
potency consists not in itself, but in the intelligence with which it is applied. 

B. FINANCIAL ASPECTS 

Second only to the primary question of the effectiveness of the curriculum in ac- 
complishing that for which it exists, is the question of its cost, of the wisest use of 
public funds for education. It is desirable that the public school not only be com- 
plete and effective and a source of community pride, but also that it represent a wise 
expenditure of the people's money. If one school spends 840 per pupil for a course 
in physics when another spends SIO, the higher cost should he justified by the dif- 
ficulty of the conditions or the superiority of the instruction. If through a series of 
years the cost of giving a certain subject remains high in comparison with other sub- 
jects that might be introduced, or with other uses to which the money might be put, 
the public has the right to expect that its school experts will compare as justly as 
possible the relative values obtainable and seek and secure the largest return on its 
investment, that is, the best education for the largest number of pupils.^ 

Examples of high costs per pupil which may or may not be justified occur particu- 

lai'ly in the case of subjects that are given for the sake of the few whodesire to prepare 

for special courses in college. Thus, advanced algebra, or solid geometry, or both, were 

given in Vermont in 1912-13 by seventeen school principals at the costs per pupil 

indicated below : 

Cost per Pupil of One Hour per Week through the Year in Advanced Mathematics^ 

Cost Salary iN'o. of periods No. of pupils 

per week in class 

$1.82 $850 39 12 

2.85 950 37 9 

3.62 850 47 5 

3.85 1200 39 8 

3.85 2000 20» 26 

4.27 1000 39 6 

4.50 1100 35 7 

5.71 1000 35 5 

9.52 1600 28 6 

10.00 1250 25 5 

10.16 1.300 32 4 

10.71 1500 20 7 

11.11 1200 27 4 

18.24 1750 32 3 

20.00 1400 35 2 

22.97 850 37 1 

36.36 1600 22 2 

' For a particularly lucid trentment of co«t per pupil of secondary instruction sec the School Reports of Newton. 

Massachusetts, for 1910. 1911. and 1912. 

' These costs are obtained by dividing the salary by the number of recitation periods per week and then dividing 

the result by the number in the class. The above are principals in each case. 

' Increased arbitrarily from 16 to 20 in order to make the resulting costs comparable with the others. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 91 

Similarly, elementary mathematics is being reviewed for college at one school for 
$1.80 per pupil and is being well done; at another school two pupils in this subject 
are costing $27.34 each. A third year of French is admirably taught at one school to 
23 pupils for $1.39 each; another school is paying $16.07 for the advanced French 
of each of two pupils. It costs still another school $30.43 to give a single pupil 
a third year of German. Second year French costs 88 cents per pupil at one of the 
larger schools, but two of the smaller institutions are paying .$17.10 and $21.21 
respectively to teach it to one pupil. In Greek, as might be expected, the costs per 
pupil are uniformly very high, from $4.40 to $18.28. In most cases they exceed, 
usually very far, the average cost per pupil of all other subjects taken together. Fur- 
thermore, a sequence of courses, which is the chief excuse for high costs, is largely 
lacking in the case of Greek. One school only has the three consecutive classes, two 
have two classes, and five have merely scattering groups in this subject. 

These comparative costs are not necessarily measures of value; a subject is not 
good merely because it is either cheap or dear. They do, however, represent the value 
that a school, perhaps unconsciously, attributes to each subject. In paying $90' a 
year to teach one pupil Greek, a school should not ignore the fact that the same 
amount of money may give a course occupying the same amount of an equally skilled 
teacher's time to twenty pupils in French or English. It is conceivable of course that 
money spent in training a few good minds to be leaders may accomplish more for the 
community than if distributed among the larger number who will be followers. The 
problem is to be sure which pupils are the prospective leaders and which are the fol- 
lowers, that the appropriate subjects are provided for each, and that the return is gen- 
uine and not merely traditional or fictitious. If it should appear that courses which 
make a larger appeal to the community life could, by intensification and enrichment, 
be given a cultural value as well, it is obvious that money would be better spent in 
reaching the larger number of pupils. 

The comparison of costs per pupil throws light also upon the central problem of 
Vermont's secondary schools, the small high school. These schools have often been 
developed and cherished rather because of worthy sentiment and ambition than be- 
cause of any conviction of their actual success and worth. These small two-teacher 
schools have, on the whole, poor housing and equipment, the instructors are ill-pre- 
pared and of small experience, the salaries are exceedingly small, the number of 
recitation periods per week excessive, the change of personnel is very rapid, and the ed- 
ucational foundation of the pupil is relatively low. All of these elements make directly 
for weakness in the process and the product; in fact, the only element of advantage 
in these small schools is the often doubtful one of the very small class. ^ Yet in spite 
of this combination of factors which practically ensures low-grade and inefficient work, 

* At the rate of $18 per period, five weekly recitations would cost $90. 

' In the larger schools 10 per cent of theclasses consist of five pupils or less ; in the two-teacher schools these small 
classes arc 31 per cent of the whole. In the Iarp:er schools 74 per cent of the classes have more than ten pupils ; in the 
smaller 71 per cent have less than ten. See table in'Part III. 



92 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

the cost per pupil is as high or higher than it is in the schools where the best con- 
ditions prevail. Brief tables are presented in Part III comparing the large schools and 
the two-teacher schools in these two I'espects. On the present basis of organization 
the small schools are paving, and must pay, double the normal cost for a service 
that is far below the normal value. Only the larger schools can teach some subjects 
economically. Suggestions for a reorganization in this r'espect appear in a subsequent 
section. 



III. THE PRODUCT OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 

The nature of the product is plainly the all-important consideration in an under- 
taking involving as much effort and expense as does a state's educational establish- 
ment. 

1. School Records 
Any enquiry into the product of an educational institution depends upon accurate 
records. In general these have not existed in Veniiont hitherto, although many schools 
have recently installed an individual card system for recording the gross facts. Some 
schools have long had such record systems in operation; others are unable to state 
the number of pupils entering or graduating as recently as 1910-11. One of the 
large schools in the state has operated up to the present year with a single list of 
accessions like a hotel register without dates. Ratings were entered after each name, 
but without mention of subjects; these were left to the principal's memory. Owing to 
this lack of records and to the fact that where records do exist, they are rarely, if 
ever, suited to this purpose, the schools were asked only for a few salient facts that could 
usually be supplied. One great service of a centralizetl state education office would be 
to devise and require of the schools a svstem of records which would make significant 
facts available. Even where schools possess elaborate systems, it is to be feared that 
they exist largely in the interests of convenience or of self-protection. Little progress 
in profitable self-analysis can be made until schools realize that the primary function 
of school i-ecords is to show in detail how the school processes act upon the pupils 
and how the results justify or condemn the pi'ocesses. 

2. The Unfinished Product 
Information was sought on three points: the withdrawals from the schools in 
a given year, the withdrawals from a given class during its four years' course, and the 
present occupations of a given set of graduates. The following table summarizes the 
returns by groups of schools : 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



Withdrawals during and at the End of the School Year 1911-12 



NOT including GRADUATES 



1st Year in 71 Schools 



Schools havinc/ 
1^-22 teachers 


Schools having 
3 teacliers 


Schools having 
2 teachers 


Schools having 
1 teacher 


Total 


Enrolled 1175 


359 


212 


149 


1895 


Loss 269 


96 


54 


52 


471 


Per cent 22.9 


26.7 


25.4 


34.9 


24.9 


2d, Sd, mid 4ih Years in 64 Schools 








Enrolled 2341 


583 


380 


97 


3401 


Loss 296 


82 


63 


13 


454 


Per cent 12.6 


14.1 


16.5 


13.3 


13.3 


Total in 64 Schools 










Enrolled 351 6 


910 


573 


187 


5186 


Loss 565 


166 


114 


31 


876 


Per cent 16.I 


18.2 


19.8 


16.5 


16.9 



Withdrawals from the Class of 1912 during its Four-Year Course in 40 Schools 
Entered 951 181 II6 1248 

Loss 497 94 58 649 

Per cent 52.3 51.9 50 52 

No similar, comprehensive statistics with which to compare these figures are at 
hand; they are probably not abnormal, if by normal is meant the prevalent situa- 
tion in secondary schools. The pertinent enquiry is, however, Why does so great 
a loss occur? The schools were invited to answer this question, with the following 
result : 



Failure^ 

Financial Necessity 

Sickness 

Transferred 

Other causes 

Unknown 



Causes assigned by the 23 Largest Schools for Withdraw/ 
during or at the End of the School Year 1911^12 
(Tlie figures indicate percentages) 
1st Year Sd, 3d, 4th Years 

42.0 35.8 

11.5 14.2 

8.5 10.1 

16.0 19.0 

6.7 9.1 

15.3 11.8 

100.0 100.0 



^ Includes all whose work wa 
"passing." The principals dete 



unsatisfactory. Cases under other headings are understood to have l)een above 
mined the meaning of " failure." 



94 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Causes assigned for Withdrawals during the Four-Year Course 
OF THE Class of 1912 





Schools hmnng 
lf-22 teachers 


Schools having 
3 teachers 


Schools having 
2 teachers 


Failure 


44.0 


25.5 


22.9 


Financial Necessity 


13.8 


12.8 


8.3 


Sickness 


6.2 


2.1 


6.3 


Transferred 


11.9 


8.5 


14.5 


Other Causes 


6.2 


11.7 


6.3 


Repeating 


5.Q 


7.4 


12.5 


Unknown 


12.3 


32.0 


29.2 




100.0 


100.0 


100.0 



Statistics of the nature of those just given must of necessity be somewhat ambig- 
uous and suggest sundry further enquiries, such as — Was withdrawal, actual or pro- 
spective, the cause, the result, or the purpose of failure.'' How compelling was the 
"financial necessity"'.'' and How completely did sickness incapacitate the pupil.-' How 
many of these would have stayed if vital interest had held them .''and How many of 
those transferred finally completed their courses elsewhere.? The large number of " un- 
known" causes still further confuses the results. Whatever the interpretation, how- 
ever, and with all allowances, it is clear that the first year class even in the largest 
schools loses nearly a fifth of its membership, and that of these departing pupils over 
one-half do not meet the requirements of the curriculum.' 

Traced through the course of a single class, 191^, the loss is found to be somewhat 
over half of the number entering, or assuming that half of those "transferred" ulti- 
mately graduate, 49 per cent of those entering do not complete the course of the 
larger schools. Of these 47 per cent failed to satisfy the school's requirements.^ Ap- 
proximately one-quarter of the original members of the class of 1912 have, therefore, 
failed to find in the course that which appealed either to their dispositions or abilities. 

On the theory that secondary education is for such as are able and willing to carry 
out an arbitrarily arranged program of studv, this makes on the whole an excellent 
showing, — -77 per cent of a given group appear to be able to meet the requirements,' 
although only slightly more than 50 per cent actually do so. 

If, on the other hand, it be held that the business of a secondary school is not 
to fit children to a ciuTiculum, but to select and use such means as shall raise each 
child to his highest power, it is clear that the high schools lost their hold on half of 
the pupils entrusted to them, and failed uttei'ly to arouse the interest and response 

' The transfer factor quoted for the larger schools on page 93 is 16 per cent of 22.9, or 8.6. Actual loss, therefore, 

equals 19.3 per cent in the group of large schools. The failure factor (42.7 per cent of 22.9) is 9.9. or 51.6 per cent of 

19.2. In the complete array the losses range from 8 per cent to 69 per cent, with the median at 25 per cent. 

' One-half the transfer factor (11.9 per cent of 62.3) equals 3. The actual loss is then 49.3 per cent. The failure factor 

(44.1 percent of B2.3) is 23.1. or46.9 per cent of 49.3. In the complete array the losses in the cla.ss of 1912 range from 

none to 86 per cent; the median is 55.1 per cent. 

' That is. 100 per cent less 23. or the percentiige of failure. See note 2. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



95 



of nearly one-fourth, to say nothing of the large number that they failed to attract 
even to the point of entrance. 

3. The Finished Product 
The finishing of the product of the secondary school, therefore, involves a consid- 
erable waste, one-half of the original material being discarded in the process. What 
of the quality and usefulness of the remaining highly selected output.'' Unfortunately 
there exist no adequate data for an answer to this question. It would require alumni 
records covering a number of years, together with accurate records of actual school 
work, to show what relation there may be between schooling and subsequent careers, 
and such records are not to be had. Fairly accurate returns, however, were secured 
concerning the graduates of the class of 1912, and are presented here for what they 
are worth. 

Occupations One Year Later of those Graduating from High Schools in 1912 
(After the first line the figures indicate percentages) 





Schools 
vith 1,-SS 
teachers 


Schools 
with S 
teachers 


Schools 
u-ith 2 
teachers 


Schools 
vrith 1 
teacher 


Total 


Number of Graduatks 


599 


143 


97 


51' 


890 




19.0 
2.7 
11.0 
21.2 
15.7 
5.4 
2.3 
3.3 
12.7 
6.7 


195 
70 

16.8 

224 
8.4 
3.5 
2,8 
4.2 

10.6 
4.9 


10.3 
2.1 
4.1 

.SS.O 

11.3 
4.1 
2.1 
8.3 

18. (! 
4.1 


9.8 
25.4 
25.4 

2.0 
4.0 
2.0 
6.0 
254 


17 1 




3 7 








23 1 




13 2 








2 5 




3 9 




12.6 




7.2 








100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 



As an indication of the effectiveness of high school graduates, the above figures 
are, of course, merely a suggestion. The number said to be in college, for example, 
probably omits some who will later go to college, and includes many who will fail 
to continue and complete the college course. The only school furnishing returns on 
this latter point states that 38 per cent of its graduates during the past five years 
have entered college, and of these 76 per cent have dropped out before graduation. 
It is significant to note the small percentage that have thus far taken up farming (3.9). 
Has the high school actually diverted boys from this occupation, or has it simply 
failed to attract would-be farmers by the obvious inappropriateness of its courses ? An 
attempt was made to secure a statement of the courses from which these students 



^As these are all two-year schools, "graduates' 
year. 



! those who leave in good standing at the end of the second 



96 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

graduated, but the replies were so ambiguous that they could not be used. It may 
be assumed that tiie Latin course, claiming over 40 per cent of the enrolment, is repre- 
sented chieHy by those who go to college or other schools, or are teaching in the ele- 
mentary school. It has a really functional concern only for a part of those who go to 
college. The commercial course with its 16.9 per cent of the pupils is accounted for in 
the 15.7 per cent of the graduates of the large schools who are in office work. The 
English course has presumably produced most of the rest. It cannot be said that any 
of the various occupations, with the exception of certain forms of college study, the 
commercial occupations, and, latterly, teaching, have found in the high school any 
directly preparatory activities. A sort of unrelated "general culture," in so far as that 
would, if necessary, count toward college, has been its main contribution. 

No one can compare the census list of Vermont occupations with the official sec- 
ondary school curriculum without seeing plainly that occupation and schooling in the 
state are, with the one exception of commercial subjects, essentially independent and 
unrelated. The student bi-eaks from a wholly artificial into a wholly practical life. 
For the sake of their liberal culture he has learned unfamiliar things which he rarely 
touches again. The cultural features of the things with which he must deal all his 
life have never been pointed out to him. Where there is a chance for a vital inter- 
relation of reference and illustration — a curriculum and career each drawing help- 
ful knowledge and power from the other — there actually exist the alien interests and 
rigid exclusiveness of two almost hostile camps. This relation should be completely 
transformed. 



IV. DEFINITION OF A SECONDARY SCHOOL 

The authors of this report believe that the secondary school should be emphati- 
cally the school for youth during adolescence. Its finidamental purpose is to deal prof- 
itably with a certain stage in the development of the individual. It can never, there- 
fore, be the institution merely of a class or sect or community; it is the educational 
birthright of every youth when he comes to adolescence. The intellectual aim of the 
elementary school is to ensure confidence and facility in the use of certain indispen- 
sable tools; the secondary school, on the other hand, takes the child just as he begins 
to expand with new power and freedom into the inheritance of the adult, and seeks to 
discover the direction of iiis individual and social promise and ultimate productive- 
ness, and to provide him, as far as possible, with equipment and training to that end. 
Every individual is under a social obligation to develop a vocational pursuit which, 
while representing his economic contribution to the common life, shall, if possible, be 
also the medium of his individual expression. This vocational pursuit should spring 
naturallv and with vigorous motive from the soil prepared in the secondary school. 
Such a pursuit should be botli profitable to society and satisfactory to the pupil ; and 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 97 

should be conceived in the largest terms of which the pupil's personality is capable. 
So-called " liberal " culture has warrant and significance chiefly as it forms the back- 
ground and interpretation of that which one calls his "work,"' and therefore in a large 
way radiates from it. 

In conformity with this idea, it is clear that the secondary school should be organ- 
ized so as to deal with every normal child; that it should pi'ovide widely varied op- 
portunities for determining the central tendency of a child's abilities and disposition ; 
that its courses should include, not incidentally but treated with intensive thorough- 
ness, those fields in which the youth of the community are likely to find their per- 
manent careers; and finally that in the arrangement of curriculum and program, in 
the ordering of general school activities, in the training and spirit of the teaching 
staff, the central purpose should be to establish the child in the noblest mental and 
spiritual relations wdth life. 

In urging the necessity of an "enriched" high school it is especially desired to avoid 
misunderstanding. It is not intended that the schooling of the individual shall be 
widely and thinly expanded. Precisely the reverse; concentration is indispensable; 
but a wide opportunity for selection alone gives opportunity for a fair and effective 
concentration. Concentration of the curriculum without the inner concentration of 
the pupil means nothing; and this will never be secured without first establishing 
sympathetic relations between the pupil and his work. 



V. A SUGGESTED SOLUTION OF VERMONT'S HIGH SCHOOL PROBLEM 

It requires no long survey to discover that the problem of secondary education in 
Vermont has the rural situation as its central factor. A large number of small towns 
and villages serve as centres for a widely scattered farming population. Compara- 
tive isolation, owing to tardy growi;h of means of communication, has preserved and 
fostered a spirit of local patriotism and independence. In many of these centres an 
admirable impulse has created and clung with tenacity to the only known means to 
higher education, a public high school or academy. To propose their radical modi- 
fication is allowable only where it is obvious that these communities are not secur- 
ing the educational opportunities that they so earnestly desire and think that they 
are getting. Education in the world without is so rapidly and so fundamentally chang- 
ing its aims and methods that the cherished institutions of these smaller towns 
are now, and in their present form must always be, hopelessly in arrears. With the 
improvement of transportation, however, the community spirit grows more compre- 
hensive, and combines with that of other communities into a larger whole. ^Vhat one 
town cannot adequately do for itself, several towns can accomplish together. 

The one-teacher schools in Group IV, remote though many of them are and oper- 
ating under heavy handicap, should by all means be preserved and strengthened. 



98 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Although only a two-year school, each is a focus for better living and higher ideals 
and should steadily gather in more of the surrounding youth under its influence. The 
disadvantages of its unsuitable cun'iculum and wasteful form of organization may 
be remedied as indicated below, and the school be turned into a live, economical, and 
profitable servant of the communit}'. 

Of the next two groups, the two-teacher and three-teacher schools, not so much 
can be said. All of them are aiming at a goal that is beyond them, and should 
be franklv disavowed. This is particularly true of the two-teacher schools — little, 
straining, distorted institutions, excessively expensive and excessively wasteful in 
proportion to their service. Certainly in their present form there is no point of view 
from which they can be justified, in spite of the many and capable men and women 
of unconquerable native talent who have come through them. The tables in Part III 
set forth more clearly than any words can the conditions under which these schools 
must operate. The salaries of the teachers are so low that no college man or woman 
can afford to take them except as an unlucky last chance. This situation is redeemed 
only through notable exceptions, due usually to special circumstances, such as home 
connections in the village; one of the ablest teachers observed in the state was, on 
this account, at work in an otherwise wholly inefficient school. Save in rare cases, the 
burden of subject and of class changes is so great as absolutely to preclude effective 
instruction. This, combined with a characteristic widespread lack of experience on the 
part of both principal and assistant, and an exceedingly abstract curriculum, pre- 
sents a situation requiring monumental endurance from even a determined pupil, to 
say nothing of the wavering pupil whom education seeks more and more to reach and 
hold. The two-teacher type of school is thus an actual discouragement to education. 

In addition it is expensive. In the discussion of the financial aspects of the curricu- 
lum it was apparent that the cost per pupil of the two-teacher schools is high, and 
would be enormous if the salaries were equalized. This is due, of course, to the small 
classes of from one to five pupils which, in the upper years, a small school makes neces- 
sary. \Vben a teacher who can teach a class of twenty as successfully as a class of 
two is employed on the class of two, her performance is clearly but one-tenth of what 
it might be. When, in addition, the teaching even of the two is not good, a town is 
paying a doubly extravagant price for what it gets. 

If it is proposed to impi'ove such a school in its present form, much more money 
must be put into it for salaries and equipment, even if it be hmited to a special 
course, such as the commei'cial course. This is a luxury that probably few towns 
will allow themselves. It is, moreover, a policy that is economically indefensible, ex- 
cept where no other resource is available. On the other hand, it is easily possible to 
restrict and intensify these schools with every prospect of success. It is clear from 
the tables that have been referred to that the financial waste is largely in the upper 
years, where classes are thinned by failure or economic necessity, and the courses are 
highly specialized. Just as the university or college finds its later courses its heaviest 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 99 

burden, and equipment for them, under modern methods, an almost limitless expense, 
so the secondary school, if it does standard work, finds that heavy laboratory and 
equipment charges, small classes, and costly instruction are especiaUy characteristic 
of the third and fourth years. Just as many colleges are relegating such work to the 
universities, and the elementary schools are centralizing it in the union schools, so 
it is the duty of the two-teacher high school similarly to abandon this double load 
of expense and obvious shortcoming and relinquish its last two years to central high 
schools designed not for any one town or a city, but for the needs of an entire region 
or district. The support of such a central school would devolve pro rata on all towns 
that contribute to its patronage, and it should have liberal assistance from the state. 
There would develop thus a strong, well-equipped high school, organized in its lower 
years for the needs of its immediate locality, and in its two upper years presenting 
a rich, highly differentiated curriculum fitted to attract and train all the youth 
of genuine ability of the district, and, because of its numbers, working economically 
and effectively. The small community would indeed cease, in that case, to have the 
doubtful glory of possessing a "first-class" high school; but it would have the gen- 
uine satisfaction of possessing, along with neighboring towns and on equal terms 
with them, opportunities for secondary schooling unsurpassed anywhere in the state. 

The lower half of the high school thus divided might then proceed to avail itself 
of one of the finest educational opportunities ever presented. It could make a com- 
plete revision of its unsuitable curriculum and its wasteful organization. The first 
step would be the consolidation of the first two years of high school with the sev- 
enth and eighth grades of the elementary school into a compact, closely articulated 
school unit, to be known, possibly, as a junior or intermediate high school.^ 

The considerations favoring the creation of a new school unit of this sort are of 
unusual weight. In the first place, a course beginning with the seventh grade puts 
the point of cleavage at about the age of the great natural divide in youth's expe- 
rience. All who deal with children at this age know that the adolescent is in a differ- 
ent world from that which surrounds a child one or two years younger. The years 
at this stage should deal with the rush of new impulses and activities in a wholly 
different manner from that familiar in the "grammar" school. They should be planned 
expressly for adolescents instead of passing, as now, in a desultory conclusion to the 
intermediate grades. In the second place, a well-constructed junior high school couree 
would close up the gap, now wofullv broad, between the grades and high school.^ 

'This susgestion assumes that the ninth grade is destined to disappear from the elementary school in Vermont as 
it has done elsewhere, — a movement already well under way. 

' Vermont does not know exactly how many pupils it loses at this point. The percentage of grammar school grad- 
uates who go to high school seems fairly high, and it is always this that is offered one enquiring ahout the matter. 
The loss is of course great, as the preliminary statistics show, and is chiefly among the non-graduates of the ele- 
mentary school, who slip away unnoticed, though they perhaps need some form of high school most of all. Bur- 
lington in 1912 sent to high school 56 per cent of her grammar school graduates, but only 28 per cent of those who 
left her elementary schools. At St. Albans in 1912. 80 left the seventh and eighth grades alone by graduation or 
otherwise ; 46 per cent of these entered high school ; of the graduates. 66 per cent were admitted. 



100 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Taking the child while still of compulsory school age, the aim should be to hold him 
through full four years. The failure of the present type of high school to do this is 
not greatly to be wondered at, and need not necessarily cause misgivings. The junior 
school would be much more sensitive to the causes of such failure, and could treat 
them with a better chance of success than the present oi-ganization. Again, the leav- 
ing age in such a school would meet what appears to be a genuine demand. This is 
shown most strongly, perhaps, in the great elimination at the end of the first and 
second years of the high school as it is constituted at present. Many other indications 
show that a form of school would be welcomed which, while an appreciable advance 
upon the elementary school, would set boys at work at about the age of sixteen.' 
Finally, reference may be made to the physical ease with which the proposal could 
be carried out. Practically all of the schools that this arrangement would affect are 
already housed with the elementary grades, and reconstraction would be wholly or 
largely an internal problem. 

Outward reorganization, however, would mean little or nothing without a thor- 
oughgoing revision of the curriculum. Such a revision will require prolonged study 
of the local field and the cooperation of many individuals. It is possible, neverthe- 
less, to indicate the general lines upon which it might well proceed. Certain central 
ideas should be clearly defined at the outset. First, the course should represent ac- 
quirement and training of recognized value to such pupils as may receive no further 
education. Moreover, this value must be such as can be appreciated by the average 
parent, and, to no slight degree, by the pupil himself. Second, the cumculum should 
be based predominantly upon the environment, and find its points of departure 
and return in community activities and needs. Third, the course must fit in with the 
central school through which the avenue to higher education must be kept open. 
In addition to these fundamental principles of organization there must be freedom 
and elasticity within individual courses, and a relentless insistence upon the training, 
personality, and responsibility of the teachers. 

All of this would involve some such modifications as the following : The instruc- 
tion in English should alter its method. Instead of four years of formal grammar 
and rhetoric, with composition and the reading of certain English and American 
classics, the course should become essentially informational, with emphasis upon oral 
and written expression; the constant use of the language on interesting matter, with 
continual but tactful pruning of glaring faults, should be relied upon, rather than 

* There is particularly successful foreif?n experience in support of this. The Rc.ilschulen in Germany perform for a 
restricted class what the junior high school would do for all. They bring a youth to his sixteenth or .seventeenth year 
with opportunity cither to stop and begin business or to go on to the three higher years of the Oberrealschulen; 
furthermore, they fit the small community precisely as here contemplated in the case of the junior high.school. In Eng- 
land the higher elementary schools, especially as organized in the new Central Schools of London, cover the same 
ground from the 12th to the 16th years. Admitting on competitive examination when the child is eleven years old, 
they follow free, elastic courses for the better minds who do not enter the secondary schools. These are thoroughly 
admirable institutions, but their weakness is their failure to articulate with the higher schools as the Realsehulen 
do. and as the proposed junior high schools should most certainly do. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 101 

formal analysis and drill. Oral work, now greatly neglected, should probably be given 
a leading place in themes, arguments, stories, and so on, with the purpose of arous- 
ing as strong a mental reaction as possible to topics of lively interest. A minimum 
of writing should be called for merely for the sake of practice. A rich content that 
invites or compels expression should be the habitual occasion for it. As for literature 
in the junior high school, it would seem that few teachers, at present, feel that they 
are accomplishing their avowed aim, namely, to instiU appreciation for good litera- 
ture. Especially is this true for such pupils as leave high school after one or two years' 
attendance. These surely have rare recourse to classic writers for pleasure reading, 
and the school has shown them nothing else. Ought not the school to make it its first 
duty, without of course ignoring the classics, to open up and ilknninate such kinds 
of literature as the pupil may reasonably be expected to enjoy permanently.'' A lad 
leaving school at sixteen thoroughly appreciative of one first-class magazine, might 
owe much to his education. 

Latin should unquestionably disappear, except in such schools as are large enough 
to offer it as a wisely administered elective. Opportunity may be given in the central 
school for two years of Latin under superior conditions, where those who go to col- 
lege and possibly have plans for studying law, medicine, or philology may secure a 
foundation which the college should recognize and plan to meet. Certainly the jun- 
ior high school, with its small demand for Latin and its still smaller use for it after 
graduation, should no longer continue the relatively large expense, not to mention the 
injustice, that it entails. As a substitute for Latin, schools large enough to afford it 
should offer a course in French or German, as local considerations may dictate; but this 
should not be introduced at the expense of work that is fundamental and necessary. If 
given, it could well cover the entire four years of tlie school, and those going thence to 
the central school could secure two additional years, thus winning for their six years' 
work a real connnand of the language, both in speech and in writing. The instruction 
should be by the "direct" method from the outset, and in the third and foui-th years 
the new medium should be applied to content having value in other courses. This 
subject would make the severest demands on the teacher, — demands that could not 
at present be fulfilled, but which could certainly be met in time. 

Ancient and mediaeval history, as now given, should be dropped fi-om the junior 
school. They are not only a complete waste of time, but an actual sacrifice of the 
pupil's natural and healthy interest in human life and institutions. A substitute is 
easy to propose, but has not as yet been organized in such form as to make its pre- 
sentation to a class a simple matter. We need a graded course in human institutions, 
starting always li-om facts and conditions familiar to the pupil of to-day, and return- 
ing always with its revelations from the past in explanation and interpretation of 
modem life. In the absence of a text-book or outline of this nature, and while waiting 
for them, the best expedient is doubtless to retain the respective fields about as they 
are, together with the best of their texts, but to liberate the teacher. Any teacher sufli- 



102 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

ciently trained to be entrusted with a course in history at all, especially if he has had 
some work in social science in college, should be able to develop sufficient power at 
the significant spots in these historical fields really to make them glow for a class. 
To do so, however, it must be a question solely of himself and the class; not of any 
exterior "requirements." Formal geography has heretofore been considered the prop- 
erty of the elementary school. There is no reason, apparently, why a kind of social 
and economic geography should not be carried along with the history and receive 
there the emphasis that it deserves. 

In mathematics the new organization would give opportunity for some important 
modifications. In the first place, the formal work in arithmetic might well be broken 
up into concrete project work in connection with the practical arts, and be kept up 
throughout the course. Civics gives opportunity for study of town and state budg- 
ets in graphic fashion; personal expense budgets, estimates for materials, labor, and 
profit in shop enterprises and in the kitchen furnish endless problems. Even baseball 
averages, problems in aviation, motoring, or wheeling make the usually dull ab- 
stractions take on new significance. Second, it would probably be possible to intro- 
duce algebra one full year earlier than at present, if this should prove desirable, 
either to enable bright pupils to reach college earlier or to make way for something 
else. Geometry would follow, and both of these should be subjected to a thorough 
revision in view of the needs of the large number who would not continue in the 
central school; the practical applications of algebra and geometry have scarcely been 
touched. On the other hand, the review mathematics as now given in the last year 
of high school could be trusted to prepare specifically for college. 

A new and promising first year course in " general science " has appeared in a few 
schools and has met with deserved success. It consists of a not wholly disconnected 
treatment of the most familiar or striking phenomena in several scientific fields, 
chiefly physics, chemistry, and biology, and deduces its few general principles always 
after a careful examination or experiment with the object or apparatus, — camera, 
telephone, battery, and so on. This thoroughly ])ractical course can be made of the 
utmost value to boys and girls of this period. It should prepare in a way for physics 
and chemistry in the central school, but its chief concern should be the boy or girl 
who must leave school at sixteen. 

Coming now to the so-called practical arts, attention is invited to those forms of 
training which, although far from dominating the cuiTiculum in themselves, may be 
relied upon to give variety and vitality to the program, to balance the excessive book- 
ishness of our past schooling with purjjoseful motor- training, and to lay open to many 
subjects whole new fields of application and illustration. It is becoming more and 
more clear that knowledge is of immensely greater accuracy and permanence when 
a motor reaction is involved, that is, when the child does the thing ; hence the great 
wisdom, wherever possible, of translating abstractions into their concrete, applied 
forms ; there will remain enough abstractions at be.st. When, at the same time, these 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 103 

pursuits have a great practical value for life, their educational value is enhanced. So 
far from impoverishment, it is believed that the genuine though latent cultural associa- 
tions of what are sometimes scornfully termed "mere vocational subjects" are wholly 
unrealized, and are susceptible of enormous development. Courses in constructive 
woodwork, in domestic science, in elementary agriculture, are, therefore, most warmly 
to be welcomed and used, not in any petty spirit, but as charged with an abundance 
of educational significance that no school can afford to miss. It is probable, too, 
that stenography and typewriting should eventually find a place in a school of this 
kind, not wholly for their vocational value, but as extremely convenient tools that 
any one may acquire. 

These are the outlines, roughly sketched, of a school form which, if well equipped, 
should be able to hold throughout its course all normal pupils of suitable age, and to 
be of decided value to them. They should be admitted directly from all six-grade ele- 
mentary schools without examination other than those usually given in their classes.* 
It should be the policy of the junior high school to admit freely almost any pupil 
and do its best by each, but to use considerable discrimination in the pupils that are 
sent on to the central school. It is clear that a school of this type could not be suc- 
cessfully organized without at least three teachers, and these, too, of a training and 
ability much above the present level in the small institutions. The cuiTiculum as 
outlined above may appear at first sight a sort of omnium-gatherum in its variety, 
requiring a large staffs This is not the case; it will, however, require a reorganiza- 
tion of preparation. Its units are no longer nicelv adjusted to college courses, but 
demand a fundamental training for the purpose. Teachers so trained, and operating 
with an elastic program, would, it is believed, prove the new curriculum to be more 
economical than the old. The principal should preferablv be a man, one with train- 
ing in agriculture and the problems of rural life. The ideal teachers would be those 
especially prepared for this work in the training-school advocated in another section; 
otherwise college graduates who have had training in teaching should be employed. 
Although the expectation of the school would be to give such subjects as should 
keep its classes full throughout the course, certain economics of instruction would 
be feasible in small communities. Thus, the four classes in English could profitably 
be taught in two groups, and their material could well be drawn from their history 
and general science. Arithmetic also, as indicated above, should largely appear in 
applied forms in other classes. Such arrangements would, of course, require some 
skill, but would not be difficult.^ 

Turning once more to the central high school, a few main features may be pointed 
out. This, in its two higher years, is the school for boys and girls whose abilities have 
been tested in the junior school, and who know rather definitely what they want to do. 

*It is here assumed that the changes in the elementary school suggested elsewhere have been made. 
' A careful survey with the local superintendents of the school population in seven towns in Lamoille County 
showed that at least 80 per cent of the school children twelve years of age or over were within reach fthree miles) of 
centres where junior high schools would naturally be organized. 



104 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Here, therefore, are concentrated the studies specifically preparing for college. I^atin, 
French, or German could doubtless be taught here throughout the full six-year cur- 
riculum with reasonable economy, though special classes would lie necessary during 
the last two years for pupils coming from other junior schools. Parallel with these, 
and of equal dignity, intensity, and thoroughness, should ap{>ear a two years' course 
in agriculture and another in domestic science. Teacher training for the elementary 
schools should be organized as a vocational course for girls, and courses in music, in 
drawing and designing, in wood and metal working should be available. It is, in short, 
the school that aims to organize and conduct any form of instruction that can be 
shown to he of value and to be demanded by a considerable number of boys and girls 
of high school age. It is emphatically a people's school; it aims to affiliate with ail 
other effective educational enterprises, and to cooperate, so far as its equipment per- 
mits, with industrial or mercantile establishments in training their employees. It is 
just as emphatically not a trade school or a vocational school in the sense of being 
limited to the drilling of pupils in the series of mechanical processes to be found in 
office, shop, or factory. Many of these it must, of course, include, but its aim is, by 
means of teachers, themselves cultured and trained for the task, to organize and teach 
the fundamentals of human activities, to develop and enforce their human significance, 
to set them in their large and vital relationships; and only those activities which pos- 
sess such significance and relationships should be included in its curriculum. Articu- 
lation with the junior school, just as with the college or technical school, should be 
complete and without examination. 

In its four junior years the central high school may well differ somewhat from the 
junior high school standing alone. Vermont's narrower vocational problem should 
find here the beginning of a successful solution. There is a large proportion of ado- 
lescent cliildren to whom the more general course already outlined does not appeal, 
whether for economic or personal reasons affecting themselves or their parents. For 
these a profitable and satisfactory form of training must be devised. For Vermont 
the obvious initial step in this direction is a vocational course in agriculture for boys 
from twelve to sixteen years of age. Those who take the higher course in agriculture 
in the upper years are likely to turn out as form managers or teachers of agriculture, 
frequently going on to the Agricultural College. The junior central school, on the 
other hand, should aim to produce successful farmers. No effi)rt should be spared to 
make this course serve the community ; its practical value should be its reason for exist- 
ence. The same laboratories, grounds, and equipment would accommodate both higher 
and lower classes, and a trained director would be in charge of the entire department. 
If such courses were organizetl in all junior central schools, there would be from 15 
to 18 centres for instruction in farming, elementary, to be sure, but thorough. This 
distribution of opportunity would meet the local needs with speed and economy 
pending the gradual development of special schools having larger facilities. What is 
true of agriculture applies equallv to other forms of vocational training. The ideal 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 105 

of the junior central school should be, within the limits of its funds, to provide means 
whereby every child of suitable age may discover his personal resources, however slen- 
der they may be, and become accustomed to command them with confidence. 

In going to tlie central school from a distance, many pupils would necessarily be 
obliged to remain for the week at least, — a practice already common at most of the 
larger high schools in Vermont. Greatly to increase this practice involves two impor- 
tant considerations, supervision and expense. One reason for dividing the high school 
as suggested, giving a junior school of four years and an additional central school 
course of two years, instead of devoting three years to each, is that the new plan post- 
pones home-leaving to the latest possible point, — a consideration of much importance 
where many are involved. This would not usually take place then before the age of 
seventeen, — an age of reasonable discretion, when supervision such as a high school 
staff" could exercise would be effective. Experience at such places as Randolph or P'air- 
fax goes to show that even considerable colonies of young people are wholly manage- 
able without dormitories. With such changes as have been suggested the central school 
would necessarily assume this care as one of its important functions and one not with- 
out its educational opportunities; a house for self-boarders, or a general commons 
for outside pupils, would furnish the domestic science department an unusual field for 
displaying its efficiency in a thoroughly practical way.' 

A more difficult problem is that of equalizing for all pupils, near and remote, the 
expense of attending a central school. It cannot be denied that the conversion of 
fifty-eight small high schools into less than a score of strong and relatively large 
ones will breed hardship for some. It is probable that this can be met for the time 
being in but one way — that of personal sacrifice, although it is possible that some 
future development in public policy may assign this margin of expense to the state. 
In either case no question can arise from this source as to the wisdom of the proposed 
plan. The convenience of a few pupils can never warrant the sacrifice of the welfare 
of the many in maintaining a series of institutions each mediocre in itself and col- 
lectively standing in the way of genuine excellence on the part of any. A thoroughly 
good school is its own excuse for being. A first-class junior high school in full career 
on sound principles is surely a community asset far superior to an imitation of 
a four-year institution that limps half-starved to no recognized goal. 

The centralized policy will, of course, be more expensive than the present. In spite 
of its high costs per pupil, the small two-teacher school costs less on the whole ; the 
final objection to it is not its costs, but its inefficiency. The final question must be 
not, For how small a number can an institution, by courtesy called a "higli school," 
be run.? but, How manv boys and girls can we, or ai-e we willing, to bring within reach 
of opportunities for secondary education that are adequate and satisfactory? 

' The high school at Brookeville, Maryland, has rooming and boarding accommodations for nearly 20 pupils in its 
special domestic science building. These come in on Monday and return home on Friday night. See the Educational 
Survey of Moyitgomery County, Maryland, U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, No. 32, page 29. 



106 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Such, in its broad outlines, is a scheme of organization which, it is beUeved, would 
place Vermont's secondary schools upon a sound educational footing, and would 
prove as economical financially as is consistent with bona fide results. It is scarcely 
within the province of the present enquiry to work out the plan in greater detail. 
Of course no plan of such far-reaching importance should be undertaken except after 
a careful study, on the part of a competent and disinterested board, of the many local 
factors which enter in. The selection and development of fifteen or eighteen central 
high schools is a matter requiring tact, patience, and persistence; and the organiza- 
tion of junior high schools in place of the old four-year institutions, together with 
the fresh establishment of such schools in promising centres, is a task calling for many 
years of planning and attentive promotion. The innnediate concern is that the policy 
undertaken be suited to the people and conditions in the state of Vermont, that it 
be educationally justifiable, and that its realization be financially reasonable. 



VI. A SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT 
OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

1 . A school census to be freshly and thoroughly prepared annually under the 
supervision of the local superintendent of schools and to include a list of all chil- 
dren from five to eighteen years of age inclusive, together with information as to 
their nationality, the occupation of their parents, and their previous movements and 
schooling. 

2. A classification of schools based upon the elements of school efficiency, includ- 
ing the extent and condition of grounds, buildings, and equipment; the number, 
qualifications, hours, and salaries of principals and teachers; the range and quality 
of the cun-iculum and program ; and the spirit and attitude characteristic of the 
institution as a whole. The educational authority should establish standards in all 
these particulars, but fixed rules for a mechanical classification should not be made. 
The classification should proceed rather from an intelligent appi-aisal of each insti- 
tution on its merits, allowance being made for all compensating features. 

3. The appointment of a qualified director of secondary education to be the repre- 
sentative of the state commissioner of education and to act as his agent. His duties 
should be those of an inspector and adviser. As inspector, he should appraise the 
plant and operation of all secondary institutions, and, with the approval of the com- 
missioner, should determine individual assignments in respect to school classification, 
state aid, and certificates to secondary teachei-s. In his advisory capacity he should 
understand and represent the state's ideal in secondary education; he should hold 
himself at the disposal of school committees and of all secondary school officials 
throughout the state for counsel and advice, and when these are not asked, should be 
capable of exerting persuasive initiative. 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 107 

4. The incorporation of the secondary schools everywhere as an integral portion of 
a single, compactly organized school system for each locality, and therefore subject 
to a common, local, supervising head. In case the organization contemplated in Rec- 
ommendation 10 is adopted, it would be advisable to make the jurisdiction of the 
local superintendent coextensive with the regional high school district. That officer 
should then be the first educational official of the district, and be trained and paid 
accordingly. Vermont would thus possess, in the place of 57 minor superintendents, 
an educational council of from 15 to 20 competent experts, exercising their super- 
vision on the business side through local town agents, and on the educational side 
through one or more supervisors appointed by themselves. 

5. A higher standard of supervision. There should be a progressive insistence 
upon a knowledge on the part of principals of the essential characteristics of efficient 
supervision, and school committees should be required to release an adequate amount 
of the principal's time, in proportion to the size of schools, for that purpose. 

6. A higher standard of qualification for teachers. Teachers at present emploved 
in the state should, of course, be continued, but the director of secondary education 
should have the power to make and to enforce the requirement that teachers who are 
conspicuously deficient in training in those subjects that they are teaching either 
improve their condition by attendance at summer schools or give up their certifi- 
cates. The state is not so large that for this purpose it may not best be treated as 
a city system and each teacher be considered on his individual merits. For subse- 
quent accessions to the teaching staff the requirements should be increased. No 
certificate should be granted merely for a college diploma; to be of value to the 
schools, college work must have been properly focused. It is not too early now to de- 
mand 12 year-hours of college work in each field offered by a candidate as a major 
for teaching ; that is actually a modest requirement. Six year-hours for a minor with 
a total requirement of two majors, or of one major and two minors, is certainly not 
too much to ask. To this must be added in practice, the stipulation that teachers be 
employed in those subjects in which they are trained. 

A further requirement would possibly do more as an example to promote the 
training of secondary teachers at large than any other one thing. The state should 
require that a person who is a candidate for a teaching position in schools of the 
highest class must have had actual practice in teaching of not less than five periods 
per week for one semester, under the supervision and criticism of a competent instruc- 
tor, in an approved school or college department of education. It is undoubtedly 
true, and is generally acknowledged, that when once state regulations supply the 
backing for this proposal the colleges will meet it with alacrity. 

7. Improved conditions of service for teachers. These include reduction in the num- 
ber of classes and subjects to be taught, increase of capable supervision, and gradual 
increase in salaries. Together with the provision for the higher qualification of teach- 
ers, these modifications are of the first importance in the construction of effective 



108 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

educational machinery. They will devolve naturally upon the proposed director of 
secondary education, who should have considerable leverage for their enforcement 
in his control of the award of grades of school classification and of financial aid. A 
rise in the general level of ability as secured in prolonged or specialized preparation 
is inseparably connected with increase in compensation. A wholesale and indiscrim- 
inate increase of salaries is not desirable and can easily be avoided in Vermont, where 
a series of small schools makes the classified salary system of large cities unneces- 
sary ; but it is most desirable that as much money as possible be devoted, on a strictly 
individual basis of personal merit, to inducing trained teachers to come to Vermont, 
and to retaining such teachers already in the state as are clearly of exceptional abil- 
ity or promise. Vermont's policy should be to pay well for ability and to see that 
she gets it. For a town to refuse the deserved increase in salary to retain a notably 
successful teacher, thereby sacrificing the steady excellence of its schooling, is a com- 
mon but wholly reprehensible form of inefficient management, and ought not to be 
tolerated by the state unless the amount of money needed is out of proportion to 
the grade of school that the community is capable of supporting. 

8. An avowed shift of emphasis in education from the curriculum to the child, in- 
volving the intimate and continuous study of each individual child to determine what 
his characteristics and needs are, — -his natural latent assets, — and the adaptation 
of curriculum, organization, and methods of the school to the development of those 
assets, to the end that the value — personal, social, and economic — of each individ- 
ual may be increased to the largest possible extent. This end is to be achieved : 

a. Through a more varied offering, especially in such subjects as demand an active, 
concrete, motor response or application, as compared with a solely abstract, passively 
absorptive, verbal reaction; hence the practical arts, original oral expression and 
composition, mathematics and modem languages applied to a stimulating content, 
history as life-story of the familiar present, and so on ; 

b. Through a more appropriate offering, contributing to the education of each child 
elements that will illuminate his surroundings and prepare him directly for the life 
and work that probably await him ; hence particulai'ly agriculture in its various forms; 

c. Through moi-e elastic courses, allowing to skilled and experienced teachers lib- 
erty for such adaptation as their insight shows to be appropriate to the pupils with 
whom they deal ; and 

d. Through a serious effoi't to secure for each school the facilities and responsibil- 
ity for dealing individually instead of schematically with its pupils. 

This recommendation involves a delicate and difficult readjustment. It can be ac- 
complished only through a personnel of considerable professional ability, to prevent 
degeneration into a pedagogical chaos as injurious as the mechanical tendency of the 
present rigid system. The unifying factors should be: 

(1) Constant and painstaking criticism by the director of secondary education, 
and 



THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 109 

(2) Frequent conferences of the schoolmen themselves to agree upon a generous min- 
imum in their courses as well as to maintain satisfactory personal and professional 
standards. 

9. A persistent and careful scrutiny of the cost of the curriculum as applied in 
each school, with a view to securing the largest actual returns for the money invested. 
This means an effort to realize the full pupil-serving power of every teacher, of every 
piece of apparatus, and of every portion of the plant. It should lead to the abandon- 
ment of expensive courses for a few specialized students unless, as is often possible 
with pupils having initiative, these can be directed informally. Even the continuity 
of a course involving extravagant expense — for one or two pupils — might well be 
sacrificed if the teacher''s time or salary could be invested elsewhere to greater advan- 
tage. A schematic preparation for college and a strong desire for logical consistency 
have blinded us here to a just sense of actual values. 

10. A general reorganization of the secondary schools on the principle of central- 
ization : 

(1) The development of, say, 1.5 to 18 central and readily accessible schools into 
regional high schools articulating directly with all neighboring junior high schools 
(see 2), and having: 

a. A rich and comprehensive two-year curriculum appropriate to the youth 17 to 
19 years of age drawn from the surrounding district; 

h. A four-year junior curriculum as in (2), but including special vocational op- 
portunities, particularly in agriculture, for pupils from 12 to 16 years of age. 

c. A highly trained and well-paid staff; 

d. Adequate equipment for all purposes; 

e. Carefully studied provision for housing and supervising pupils who come from 
a distance; and 

f. The disposition and facilities for becoming the centres of the intellectual and 
social life, both adolescent and adult, of the group of towns that they serve. 

(2) The reorganization of the remaining high schools, together with the lower 
years of the proposed regional high schools, into junior high schools, having: 

a. A four-year curriculum, elastic in administration, but limited in scope by the 
numbers and needs of the local boys and girls 12 to 16 years of age, covering the 
seventh and eighth grades of the present elementary school and the first two years 
of the present high school ; 

b. A staff trained, jmrticularly with reference to the problems of the niral or small 
community, in a special training-school ; 

c. Equipment appropriate to the curriculum presented; and 

d. The primary function of reaching and securing the greatest possible reaction 
from every child in the community who is from 12 to 16 years of age. 

11. Provision for the collection and interpretation of the most important secondary 
school statistics: attendance and withdrawal in the various schools, classes, years, 



110 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

courses, subjects; success and failure in various schools, years, courses, and subjects; 
sources of pupils as well as their subsequent performance in relation to their school 
records ; and costs per pupil in courses and subjects. It is not a great burden to 
secure such data when the task is systematized and distributed. Intelligently used, they 
constitute the only real chart for educational navigation that we possess. 

WiLMAM S. Learned. 



V 

THE TRAINING, CERTIFICATION, AND SUPPLY OF 
TEACHERS 

This section presents: (1) an historical summary, and (2) a statement of the sources 
of its information ; and discusses (3) the existing situation with regai'd to (a) normal 
schools, (b) training-classes, (r) supplementary training, and (d) the certification of 
teachers; (4) the inadequacy of the normal schools; (5) the success of the training- 
classes; and (6) a central training-school; and concludes with (7) recommendations. 

1. Historical Summary 
The training of teachers for the elementary schools received its first official recog- 
nition and support in Vermont about half acentury ago— in 1849 through appropria- 
tions by the legislature for teachers institutes, and in 1866-67 through the consti- 
tution of three state normal schools out of three county grammar schools (that of 
Orange County at Randolph Centre, that of Lamoille County at Johnson, and that 
of Rutland County at Castleton). The prestige conferred upon these schools by this 
honor evidently did service in lieu of material support, as the act stipulated that they 
were to be "established and maintained without any expense to the State." ' Aid was 
shortly forthcoming, however, in the form of annual appropriations for scholarships, to 
which there was added, in 1868, a small appropriation (.$500),for each school, to be 
expended by the board of education in direct assistance. In one or the other or both of 
these two forms the subsidy to these normal schools has been steadily increased until, 
in 1910, Johnson and Castleton were receiving annually $10,000 each; the school 
at Randolph was converted into a state agricultural school in that year. Established 
for a five-year period, the schools were renewed at that intei-val until 1880; two ten- 
year extensions brought them to 1900, when they were continued to 1920. Their early 
careers were apparently prosperous — sufficiently so to awaken the jealousy of neigh- 
boring academies which, in 1878, seem to have been influential enough with the legis- 
lature to compel the normal schools to abandon their academic courses and to confine 
their activities wholly to the training of teachers. This move extinguished what had 
been flourishing and profitable departments, what had, in fact, been the schools them- 
selves until the state developed the normal feature, and the institutions became hence- 
forth wholly dependent upon the state. The control of the schools was vested in the 
board of education from the outset, so far at least as concerned admission, courses of 
study, examinations and certificates, and the appointment of the principal. The trus- 
tees of the several original academies were continued when the latter became normal 
schools, though the board of education had sole control in the expenditure of state 

» Acts of 1866. No. 1. 



112 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

funds. When, in 1874, the board of education was abolished, its duties fell to the 
newly created state superintendent, who acted, however, in consultation with the 
trustees. In 1894 control revei-ted to a board known as the Board of Normal School 
Examiners, Supervisors, and Commissioners, and later (1898) as the Board of Nor- 
mal School Commissioners. The powers of this latter body were passed on in turn to 
the board of education, created in 1908, except that the examination and certifica- 
tion of teachers was centred in the state superintendent. The last change occui'red in 
1912, when the normal schools came under their present management, the new board 
of education. 

The three schools have been much investigated institutions. No less than five spe- 
cial commissions for this purpose have been created since 1886. The last of these, in 
1908, never became active. Of the remaining four, the first two (1886, 1894) recom- 
mended the abolition of the prevailing system as being inadequate for its purpose; 
the third (1896) urged the maintenance of the existing schools and their largely in- 
creased suppoi't; the fourth (1906) advocated the establishment of a new, well-equipped 
school in a relatively large and accessible town to replace the school at Randolph Cen- 
tre, but proposed to continue the schools at Castleton and Johnson for the time being 
with moderate appropriations. Until 1910 the Castleton and Johnson normal schools 
were conducted on property and in buildings that did not belong to the state. By leg- 
islative enactment of that year (Acts 1910, No. 70) the property at Castleton was 
purchased by the state for the sum of $18,000. In the same act the legislature appro- 
priated $12,000 for the constiniction and equipment of a dormitorv for the use of the 
Johnson Normal School. This appropriation, practically the first for such a purpose, 
was made upon the conditions that the state have conveyed to it free from all encum- 
brances a lot of land sufficient for the site of the dormitory, with suitable grounds in 
connection therewith; that the trustees of Lamoille County Grammar School lease to 
the state for a term of ninety years the property occupied by the normal school ; and 
that the village of Johnson furnish the buildings connected with the institution with 
water and electricity free of expense to the state. In spite of these steps looking toward 
the promotion of the present normal schools, the state in the same year inaugurated 
a policy of state aid for teachers training-classes in the high schools, — a move that 
threatens the existence of both normal schools as they are constituted at present. These 
various changes, many of them divorced from educational considerations, have left the 
normal schools, their function, and their support in a state of constant confusion. There 
has been no consistent or permanent policy in dealing with them. 



2. Sources of Information 
Both of the normal schools were visited by several members of the staff", who were 
familiar with similar institutions in other states. Twelve of the fourteen high school 
training-classes were visited, a number of them by several members of the staff". The 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 118 

records and literature concerning both groups of institutions were thoroughly studied, 
and there wei'e many conferences with educators and other citizens concerning them. 



3. The Existing Situation 
(a) Normal Schools 

The state now maintains and practically owns two normal schools, one at Castle- 
ton and one at Johnson. 

The Castleton buildings are located near the centre of the village of Castleton, 
a short distance south of the main street and about fifty feet above the level of the 
Castleton River. They are surrounded by about seven acres of land ; the two and one- 
half acres in front of the buildings having been parked. The buildings themselves 
consist of a three story brick structure, one hundred feet long and forty feet wide, to- 
gether with a wooden annex about sixty feet long and fifty feet wide. One-half of the 
first floor of the main building and all of the annex are used by the school for reci- 
tation rooms, library, and office. The rest of the main building is used as a dormitory 
for pupils and teachers. As a whole, the buildings at Castleton are poorly arranged 
and indifferently equipped for the purposes of the school. In spite of recent renovation 
and improvements, they are considerably out of repair. They are heated by stoves, 
which are in themselves a constant menace to the lives of the pupils. The last legis- 
lature authorized the state board of education, with the approval of the governor, to 
provide for the furnishing and installation of a steam heating plant for the buildings, 
and appropriated $7000 for this purpose. The sum of $3000 was also appropriated for 
furniture and repairs for the dormitory. There is serious doubt as to the desirability 
of expending any more money on these buildings. If this location is to be used for 
the purposes of any state educational institution, it would be cheaper in the end to 
build entirely new buildings. By agreement with the town school officers the Castleton 
public school, located within a i-eady walking distance of the normal school, is used 
as a training-school. One of the rural schools of the town is also utilized for this 
purpose. 

The buildings at Johnson consist of a two story frame structure, used for instruc- 
tion under a long term lease from the trustees of the old Lamoille County Gram- 
mar School, and a dormitory,' distant about half a mile and adjacent to the vil- 
lage public school, which is used as a practice-school. Without exception the housing, 
equipment, and general material aiTangements at Johnson are superior to those at 
Castleton. 

Whatever the future disposition of the schools may be, their recent purchase by 
the state has very completely and properly liquidated any obligation that the state 
may have had toward them. The state is now entirely free to act in accordance with 
its best interests. 

* Conatructed by the state in accordance with the legislation of 1910. 



114 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The organization of the course of study in the normal schools has passed through three 
well-defined stages. The original plan contemplated a "lower course,"' to include all 
" the branches required by law to be taught in the conmion schools of Vermont," 
and a " higher course," to contain, in addition, " higher branches," and to require 
"one full year of study." ^ These courses gradually crystallized into a lower course 
of two years open to pupils fresh from the elementary school, and a higher course, 
also of two yeai's, for such as had taken the lower course ; the two courses thus corre- 
sponding with the two halves of a four-year high school course. Such was the arrange- 
ment until 1909, when the higher course had its standard raised by two years and was 
reserved for high school graduates. To effect the transition to a single-standard 
school similar to those of neighboring states, the lower course was at the same time 
lengthened to four years, and was later (1910) abolished. For three years thereafter 
Vermont normal schools offered, in addition to remnants of the old regime, work of 
strictly professional grade. Moved, however, by the prospect of diminishing attend- 
ance, the present board of education restored the lower course after July, 1913, 
making it two years in length and dependent upon («) the completion of two years 
of work in any classified academy or high school in Vermont, or of an equal amount 
in classified secondary schools of any other state; or (S) the possession of any Ver- 
mont teacher's certificate except a permit or a limited third grade certificate. 

This action of the state board of education provided that pupils satisfactorily 
completing the requirements of the lower course be granted an appropriate diploma 
and a five-year certificate; that graduates of high schools or academies of the "first"^ 
class be admitted to the lower course, and upon completion of one year's work be 
granted similar credentials ; and that pupils completing the lower course of two years 
■ be admitted to the higher course and its privileges of gratluation and certifica- 
tion. The dual course is therefore again in operation : the higher, open to graduates of 
a four-year high school course and leading to a diploma and a certificate to teach 
valid for ten years, and the lower as stated above. 

The attendance and number of graduates from each of the normal schools for the 
ten years 1903-12 is summarized below: 

Average Number of Graduates Annually from Vermont Normal Schools^ 

Lower Course Higher Course Regraduates ^ 

Special 

Castleton 36(10) 3(10) 4(8) 

Johnson 22 (6) 3 (6) 2 (8) 

Rmdolph 29 (6) 2 (6) 1 (6) 

Together 87 8* 7 

' Acts of 1S66, No. 1. ' For explanation of this term, see page 6". 

*^ As complete reports are not available, the number of years on which the average is based is given in parentheses. 
* In 19U and 1912 the "higher course" graduates were from the new two-year course for high school graduates, and 
numbered 11 and 7 at Castleton, 8 and 7 at Johnson, and 4 at Kandolph— 37 in all. 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 115 

(b) Training-classes in High Schools 

The school board of a town maintaining a high school of the first class, and the 
board of trustees of an academy of the first class, may establish and maintain a 
teacher-training class in connection with such high school or academy.' This class is 
under the direction and approval of the state board of education, which prescribes 
the studies to be pursued and appoints the special teachers employed. In the estab- 
lishment of such classes the law provides that preference shall be given to high schools 
and academies that can best serve the rural schools. No approval may be given to a 
high school or academy having less than two elementary graded schools available for 
observation and practice purposes. 

For classes so established the state allows a maximum subsidy of $800 for the teach- 
er's salary, provided that the local authorities have expended at least $200 for the 
same purpose. If the class numbers fewer than eight seniors or graduates, the state 
pays $100 for each regular member of the class, and the school must increase its 
proportion to make up the balance. 

The facts concerning training-classes from 1912 to 191-1 are summarized in the fol- 
lowing table :^ 



In Courses 


1911-13 


1912-13 


1913-U 


Graduates 


43 


48 


65 


Seniors 


106 


91 


133» 


Total 


149 


139 


198 


Graduated 


141 


139 




Teaching 








In Graded Schools 


15 


5 




In Rural Schools 


111 


118 




Total 


126 


123 




Not Teaching 


15 


16 





(c) Supplementary Training 
The superintendent of education reports twenty-one educational meetings for 
public school teachers conducted by his department during the biennium 1910—12.* 
In addition to these general meetings each union superintendent conducted several 
meetings of the teachers of his union. Summer schools for elementary school teachers 
were held at Rutland and Johnson in 1911, and at Castleton and Johnson in 1912 
and 1913. Middlebury College and the University of Vermont provide through their 
summer sessions opportunities for further professional training for secondary school 
teachers. The Vermont Teachers' Association in its annual sessions has for many years 
been a stimulating and unifying influence among teachers of all degrees. 

' By the provisions of Act No. 61, Acts of 1910 (as amended by No. 64, Acts of 1912). 

^ The figures are furnished by the superintendent of education. 

* Nine of these are "special" students. * School Report, 1912, page 53. 



116 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

(d) The Certification of Teachers 

The legal requirements for the certification of teachers and the statistics relating 
to the grades of certificates held by the teaching staff of the state have already been 
presented.' 

Without question, a distinct step in advance was made in placing the examina- 
tion and certification of all public school teachers entirely under the direction of the 
superintendent of education.^ This change from a county examiner system to a state 
system has been widely recognized in recent years as the most effective means for rais- 
ing and unifying the worth of teachers' certificates. As now conducted, a committee of 
union superintendents prepares the examination questions; the questions are printed 
and distributed through the department of education ; the union superintendents con- 
duct the examinations and forward to the superintendent of education the papers 
written by the various applicants ; the papers are assigned to readers for rating, each 
reader having a single subject; the ratings are sent to the office of the superintendent 
of education, and upon the averages obtained certificates are issued. The advantages 
of this method over the former county examiner method, as pointed out by the 
superintendent of education, are that («) it is cheaper; (&) it furnishes a single stand- 
ard of rating for each subject; and {c) it fixes responsibility and centres all informa- 
tion concerning certificates in one office. 

It must be recognized that, even though immediate steps be taken for the improve- 
ment and extension of the agencies for the production of trained teachers, the system 
of formal examinations will be for a number of years the chief instrumentality for 
determining minimum qualifications. As a means for the encouragement of higher 
professional attainments on the part of the untrained teacher, the system of examina- 
tion and certification is open to the following criticisms: 

(1) The written examination questions for the first, second, and third grade certifi- 
cates are based too largely upon knowledge and information of a purely fonnal sort. 
These questions are not such as would test a candidate's teaching knowledge of the 
subjects of the program of studies of the elementary schools. While this criticism will 
apply more to the questions in some subjects than in others, it is peculiarly valid 
for the recent questions in arithmetic, English, history and civics, and psychology.^ It 
is frequently said that these examinations are easier than the free tuition examinations 
set for entrance to high school. There is doubtless some connection between the qual- 
ity of teaching in the elementary schools and the character of the written tests used 
to determine the initial qualification of teachers. 

(2) The initial and practically unconditioned periods for which first grade certifi- 
cates, certificates to normal school graduates, and certificates to graduates of the high 
school training courses are granted are all too long. All such certificates should be 

' See page 31. * By the provisions of Act No. 3". Acts of 1308. 

* This criticism is based upon the questions used in the examin.ition piven February 29 and March 1, 1912, and 

February 27 and 28. 1913. 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 117 

granted in the form of a probationary license valid for one year only, subject to re- 
newal for a second probationary year upon the presentation of competent testimony 
as to successful and meritorious teaching. At the end of a second year of approved 
probationary service the certificate might be made valid for a period not exceeding 
five years. No certificate should be made valid "so long as the holder continues to 
teach in the same town," as is now the frequent legal provision governing certificates. 
The long life of certificates places a premium on mediocrity and removes a stimulus 
to professional progress. 



4. The Inadequacy of the Normal Schools 
No question affecting the educational system of the state has provoked more argu- 
ment and contention during the past decade than that relating to the nomial schools. 
None appears more difficult of satisfactory and harmonious settlement. For many years 
the staunch and active supporters of the normal schools have vigorously opposed the 
frequent efforts that have been made to disestablish them as institutions receiving 
public support. The success of this opposition, notwithstanding several distinctly un- 
favorable reports by legislative commissions, and in spite of the recommendations of 
the state department of education for the past decade, testifies to the political influ- 
ence of the normal school supporters.' At the same time an unbiased weighing of the 
available impersonal evidence bearing on the situation inclines one strongly to the 
conclusion that, for the most part, partisan factors — political, personal, and local — 
rather than the educational needs of the state have largely determined the course of 
action. 

It is of the first importance objectively and accurately to analyze the real educa- 
tional situation of the state in this matter and to estimate its need. Nowhere is the 
teacher problem more acute. Of the 2110 elementary teachers who replied to the 
questions sent out by the commission, 555, or 26 per cent, were graduates of nor- 
mal schools. A few of these (74, or 13 percent) were from standard schools outside the 
state and were teaching in cities or towns; others (199, or 36 per cent) came from the 
"higher course" in the Vermont normal schools, roughly equivalent in amount to a 
high school course, or, in a few cases, to a two-year graduate course;^ but 282, or 
51 per cent, were the product of the so-called " lower course" of the Vermont normal 
schools; that is, they had had a training equivalent in duration and maturity to the 

* The argument that the advocate for the existing normal schools presents to the members of the legislature is 
simple, direct, and persuasive. It runs somethinc like this: The city schools are getting everything they want in 
education — long terms, good schoolhouses, and paid teachers. The city children can go to school over good pave- 
ments, free of mud and snow. The normal schools alone are left to serve the country teacher and the country boy; 
they represent the only effort the state makes to equalize opportunities as between city and country. Are you going 
to give the towns everything and the country nothing? 

This is a plea that has seldom failed in the past. The answer to it is contained in the recommendations offered 
in this report, which propose to devote the state's money to an efficient, rather than to a deficient, service to the 
country schools, 
' In 1911 and 1912 the three normal schools produced together 37 of these. See page 114, note 4. 



118 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

first two years of high school, but confined to subjects taught in the common schools. 
This is quite a different thing from that which the term "normal school" usually 
suggests — a two-year professional course following a four-year iiigh school course. 
One hundred and thirty-four others, or 6.4 per cent of the entire 2110, had attended 
normal schools, but had not graduated; 101, or 4.8 per cent, had been in training- 
classes. Over one-half (56 per cent) of the entire number had graduated from high 
school, but were without training in teaching. Aside, then, from the teachers trained 
in schools elsewhere or, since 1911, in the graduate courses in Vermont, and a few high 
school graduates who have enjoyed a year in the new training-classes, Vermont has, 
in the proper sense of the term, no professionally trained elementary school teachers. 

Though desirable, it will be for years altogether impossible for N'ermont to replace 
all of her rural teachers with graduates of standard normal schools. It would require 
double the salary, and even so, such teachers are not to be had at present in sufficient 
numbers for such positions. It is possible, however, for the state at once and boldly 
to enter upon a definite constructive policy that shall provide a constant and ade- 
quate supply of trained teachers, especially for her rural schools. The degree of this 
training and the abundance of the supply are purely economic questions. How far 
is Vermont willing to go in order to obtain a sufficient number of adequately trained 
teachers .? 

The annual demand for teachers is, of course, variable. Service requiring slight 
training and commanding low pay shifts rapidly. A liberal interpretation of the re- 
cently gathered statistics of the elementary teachers of the state shows that under 
the existing conditions of lack of training and excessively low salaries, about 450 
new teachers ai'e needed each year to replace those who drop out. It is probable that 
as conditions improve and salaries increase, this number will become smaller. 

Where is Vermont to look each year for 400 new and well-trained teachers to con- 
duct her elementary schools in decent fashion ? It would be a grievous blunder in an- 
swering this question if mere political, personal, or local considerations were allowed 
to influence the decision; the question is far too vital and means too much to the 
future of the state to admit of dealing with the situation otherwise than absolutely 
on its merits. The solution of the problem has hitherto been sought in two directions. 
For nearly fifty years three, and more recently two, low-grade normal schools have 
been merely reviewing elementary school subjects; pupils directly from the elementary 
schools liave formed the great bulk of attendance, and during the ten years 1903-12 
the three schools together averaged 87 graduates annually from this "lower course." 
Such rudimentary work is not to be despi.sed, but from the present point of view it 
is wholly negligible. From their "higher course," «hich alone deserves recognition 
here, the three schools have had during the same ten years an average combined an- 
nual output of eight, or, including regraduates and specials, fifteen ! What are these 
among 400?' 

• In 1913 Johnson and Castleton together graduated 72 teachers: 18 from their now two year course for high school 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 119 

5. The Success of the Training-classes 

As a second means of relieving the need, training-classes were established two years 
ago. In this time they have put 249 teachers into the field — 229 of them into rural 
schools. Of this total nearly one-third were high school graduates with the year in 
the training-class as additional preparation ; the remainder took the work of the train- 
ing-class as their senior year in high school. In maturity and weight of personality 
there is every reason to suppose that the training-class girls were the equals, and in 
the case of the graduates, the superiors, of the graduates of the old "higher course" 
in the normal schools ; in breadth of education they were certainly ahead ; in purely 
pedagogical training they were perhaps behind. There is theoretical advantage in the 
normal school in this latter respect: the wide variety of special subjects, such as music, 
drawing, nature study, and so on, can be dealt with more intensively and effectively 
by departmental instructors than by a single teacher in a training-class. At the same 
time, considering their natural limitations and their recent organization, there can 
be only praise for the training-classes. The teachers in most cases are admirable; the 
members of the classes seem well selected and, with rare exceptions, efficient; the 
intelligent enthusiasm of the girls is everywhere marked. On the whole, the state 
certainly did vastly better for its purpose with its investment of $8600 in the 126 
training-class graduates in 1912, than in the $20,000 that it put into the 14 "higher 
course" and 28 "lower course" graduates from the normal schools during the same 
year. For the purposes of Vermont in its rural schools the former were probably quite 
as effective teachers. 

It seems clear, therefore, as far as actual past performance can be trusted as a 
guide, that in supplying trained teachers, the state will make far greater headway 
with the training-classes than by depending on the normal schools. Much has been 
affirmed as to what the normal schools might do, were they encouraged and supported ; 
especially if teachers' salaries were increased. A change in the last respect would 
undoubtedly bring betterment. The fact remains, however, that in their best days the 
normal schools have never been able to make their "higher course" effective in num- 
bers. They have served chiefly as local institutions,' and even so have not successfully 
risen above an inferior grade. 

graduates, 30 from the new "lower course" (equivalent to a four-year high school course), and 2-i from courses still 
lower and now discontinued by law. Of these practically all of the higher course graduates are teaching in graded 
schools: 49 of the 54 others are in rural schools. 

The attendance in 1913-14 is especially suggestive. Castleton has 61, of whom 48 are high school graduates. From 
these will be graduated in 1914 a class of 38, of whom 7 only are in the higher, two-year course, the remainder being 
from the one-year lower course for high school graduates which competes directly with the training-classes. John- 
son has 65 students and will graduate from its higher or two-year course, 8; from its two-year lower course, 4; and 
from its one-year lower course for high school graduates, 80. Both schools, therefore, are at present essentially large 
one-year training-classes, operating at heavy expense. 

'Not including the regraduates and the graduates from the higher course, 66 per cent of the graduates from the 
Castleton Normal School during the past twenty years were residents of Rutland County, 44 per cent were resi- 
dents of Castleton and contiguous towns; 18 per cent were residents' of Castleton ; 42 per cent of the graduates of 
the Randolph Normal School were residents of Orange County, nearly half of whom were residents of the town of 



120 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Under precisely the same conditions the training-classes have been notably success- 
ful. The strength of the training-class lies in its purely local application. This is clearly 
the explanation of its success in contrast to the normal schools; as it is the explana- 
tion of what success the normal schools themselves have had. It seems a logical in- 
ference that the rural school must expect to draw its teachers from local territory; 
that a school giving high-grade training for this purpose can never be large and eco- 
nomically conducted. The girl whose teaching ambitions take her from home to 
school in another part of the state is aiming higher than at a rural school position. 
Many a girl, on the other hand, will take a teachers course in a local high school and 
accept a position in the familiar country about her home. Vermont has tried in vain for 
fifty years to bring pupils to her training-schools; when she takes the training-schools 
to the pupils there is response at once. 

Another apparently insuperable obstacle to the success of the present normal 
schools as training-schools for rural teachers is the obvious lack of suitable practice 
facilities in the villages where the schools are located. To be rated successful for Ver- 
mont's purpose, these schools must each turn out 150 graduates annually, — a num- 
ber that would utterly swamp the little practice-classes that the village schools can 
provide. The training-class has here again a great advantage: its fifteen or twenty 
girls can be readily accommodated in the neighboring schools; they work there under 
more typical conditions than prevail in the somewhat artificial practice schools ; and 
their influence and that of their critic-teachers is in turn spread over the entire state. 

Moreover, the training-classes have untried possibilities. Newly organized, they have 
not yet learned to take full advantage of the opportunities for coiTelation with other 
school activities. Their work should be extended over two years and moulded into 
a richer vocational course utilizing all the appropriate facilities that the schools with 
which they are connected possess. In case the plan of high school centralization * is 
adopted and the state undertakes to develop 15 or 18 strong "regional " schools with 
full equipment, first-class teachers, and a widely varied curriculum, the teachei-s course 
will find the conditions nearly ideal. Apparatus and able instruction will be at hand 
in all special subjects for fitting the needs of these classes. The teachers in charge 
should be the best obtainable, and should be made permanent, with whatever assist- 
ance may be necessary. With wise development the state will shortly find itself in 
possession of 15 or 18 small but highly efllcient training-schools, each the centre for 
the elementary school interests of its own limited district, and each cooperating with 
other local agencies to unify and improve the educational conditionsin that single unit. 

One of the most commendable features of the training-classes is the ready and famil- 
iar resoi^t which they furnish for their graduates in the rural schools near by when 
aid and advice are needed. It would indeed be an excellent plan to give the training- 
Randolph; 2s per cent of the graduates of the Johnson Normal School were residentsof Lamoille County, more than 
half of whom were residents of Johnson. Vermont School Report, 1910, page 16. 
' See page 109. 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 121 

class teacher supervisory powers over certain phases of the elementary teaching in 
her district and thus still further focus her influence. 

To make these training-classes permanently and adequately successful, one funda- 
mental reform is indispensable, and a second is highly desirable. Rural teachers must 
be paid higher salaries. For $7, $8, and §9 a week there must be a prospect of $10, 
$11, and $12. If this is done, the classes will fill up with good material; if not, they 
must struggle for existence. This 'is an economic problem, pure and simple. More 
money to the school teacher was once a matter of benevolent altruism — a charity; 
to-day it is a cold business necessity, the lack of which is reacting disastrously on the 
best resources of the community — the children. In the second place, as urged else- 
where in this report, the elementary school teachers should work under conditions 
controlled by the state. They are already prepared by state-chosen teachers in state- 
supported training-schools, and are subject to the state for licenses to teach; the 
amount of their salaries and the manner of payment should be prescribed and guar- 
anteed by the state, and they should be subject to state inspection and criticism. 
Such a step would involve no radical changes, but would give the central educational 
authority greatly increased influence over backward and indifferent communities, at 
the same time dignifying and strengthening the present somewhat uncertain position 
of the teacher. With these two important modifications made, there is every reason 
to believe that the training-classes would thrive to the limit of their capacity. Six- 
teen classes turning out annually an average of 20 graduates each would provide 320 
teachers — ample for the rural school demand; the remainder, high grade normal 
graduates for city schools, may be made up otherwise. 



6. A Central Training-school 
The teacher problem in Vermont is so predominantly a i-ural teacher problem that 
other phases of it sink into insignificance in comparison. There are, however, im- 
portant reasons for believing that the state cannot permanently confine its provi- 
sions for training wholly to the country school teacher. It will be well, before pro- 
ceeding, to consider briefly the nature of teacher training in general. There has been 
much obscurity on this point. It is to be feared that the term "normal school" has 
been used as a shibboleth to divide friends from foes without a clear idea of what 
such an institution really is. Usage is at present fairly consistent in applying the 
terms "elementary school," "secondary school," and "college" to institutions deal- 
ing progressively with certain fixed stages in a youth''s development ; these concep- 
tions are necessarily fairly stable. A teachers training-school has no such determin- 
ing element about it. Its standards are fixed almost wholly by the local social and 
economic conditions. There is no inherent reason why the kindergarten or the first 
grade should not be taught by university graduates or doctors of philosophy. Soci- 
ety simply does not yet think it necessary to buy such expensive training for that 



122 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

purpose. The standard of all so-called "normal schools'" or "teacher training-schools" 
merely reflects the current opinion that the community has of the teacher's func- 
tion, — the price it is willing to pay for training for a certain purpose. Vermont has 
paid small "wages," and has received an exceedingly low grade of training or none 
at all. In the product of the training-classes she is now in a fair way to introduce 
a very much better grade of preparation among her rural teachers. The question 
remains : Is there a still higher grade that she should and will provide for certain 
special purposes? It is important that the problem be thus clearly divided instead 
of allowing several conflicting purposes to be concealed under one vague name- — - 
normal school. 

In spite of the varied and confusing forms that the training of teachers assumes 
in America,' there is a certain dominant standard that represents for the time being 
the best of which the leading communities are financially capable. For elementary 
teachers this at present presupposes an organization offering at least two years of 
professional education following a complete four-year course in a high school. The 
instructors should have had both collegiate and professional training plus actual 
experience in teaching the ages for which they are now preparing teachers. The work 
that such a school aims to accomplisli may be considered as three-fold: («) to place 
a candidate in wholly confident possession of the facts in the various fields in which 
she is to be asked to teach ; (b) to explain as fully as possible the child mind and 
nature with which the teacher will have to deal, and to show what experience has 
found to be the most effective procedures in his education ; (c) to ensure under 
expert direction and criticism an actual experience as varied and comprehensive as 
possible, in recognizing and solving the educational problems that children present, 
both as individuals and in classes. Considerable laboratory work of this sort is indis- 
pensable, and its significance is being more and more recognized as the impotence of 
purely theoretical training is revealed. These three kinds of work have to do almost 
exclusively with professional technique, and crowded as they are into two years, leave 
little time for genuine cultural activity — subjects that clarify and focus one's aims, 
add new interests, and in general go to swell the teacher's personal equipment. Just 
here has been the weakness of the normal school hitherto, and new^ standards are 
slowly being set. There is a tendency to increase the academic work and plan the 
course in four years instead of two. Some elementary systems are already employing 
college graduates who have had normal training in addition. jMeanwhile among 
secondary teachers one or two years of graduate work in education are coming to dis- 
tinguish the fit from tlie unfit. Each additional year spent in preparation involves an 

'The curricula of thirty-six representative normal sehools in thirty states vary from one to six years in length; 
they require for entrance from nothing to a hifrh school diploma; no one subject is required by all ; eight have no 
practice-teaching, nine no work in methods. Some schools train only elementary teachers, others profess to train 
all grades from kindergarten to college; some have one teacher to 83 students, others have one to 8; some gradu- 
ate one-third of their students, others one-forty-fourth. The size of normal schools varies fi-om less than 100 to 
more than 3000 students. 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS 123 

additional expense both for the training and tlie subsequent salary of its beneficiary. 
As already pointed out, tlie fundamental (juestions are : How far does a given commu- 
nity think trained teachers necessary for its children? and For what amount of train- 
ing is it willing to pay? 

In Vermont it would, of course, be quite possible to continue as heretofore and allow 
the better positions in the state to be filled by a process of natural selection from 
merit in the lower grades or from material attracted from abroad. But the recom- 
mendations of this enquiry at another point create a situation that should by all 
means be taken into consideration. It is believed advisable that the smaller highschools 
should abandon their effort to offer a regular four-year course, and instead combine 
with the seventh and eighth grades to form "junior" high schools, which shall reor- 
ganize their work along somewhat new and different lines. If this plan is carried out, 
there will be at once 77 of these schools, and more will readily be formed; from 300 to 
500 teachers will be needed — possibly from 50 to 75 each year. It is particularly 
important that the teachers in these schools should have an appropriate training. 
The problems of the rural community must be especially intelligible and attractive 
to them. For this purpose it is generally agreed that the untrained college graduate 
would be markedly inferior to teachers trained in a thoroughly high grade school 
organized and conducted with this purpose expressly in view; a "normal school," if 
one wishes to retain the name, — one I'equiring at least two and preferably three years 
in addition to a four-year high school course, and planned not to imitate the normal 
schools of other states, but to show teachers how to deal successfully with Vermont 
problems. Such a school could provide at the same time for the better gi'ade positions 
in cities and towns. The nature of its work would cause it to assume at once the leader- 
ship of the various training-classes in the state, and to operate in close affiliation with 
them. Its location would involve various factors. It should be central and accessible; 
it should be independent of other educational institutions ; it should have a good 
library and ample practice facilities. Such details, however, are for the new state board, 
recommended elsewhere, to consider and determine. 



7. Recommendations 
It is recommended, therefore, that the state discontinue at once, as nomial schools, 
the two institutions now being conducted at Johnson and Castleton, and that all 
available funds and energy be devoted to developing and improving the training- 
classes and to providing better salaries for elementary teachers. It is further recom- 
mended that, as soon as this primary undertaking has been placed upon a thoroughly 
sound basis, the educational authorities take under consideration the establishment 
of a new central training-school to serve the needs of the state in providing teachers 
for its junior high schools and for positions in the higher grades of the elementary 
schools. 



124 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The question of the training of teachers for the upper years of central high schools 
has been touched upon in two other sections of the report.' Although in itself a ques- 
tion of fundamental importance, it does not possess for Vermont the urgent character 
of the problems discussed above. The large majority of the secondary teachers in the 
state have received their training in the colleges of Vermont or of neighboring 
states, and it is apparent that these and similar institutions can meet the need quite 
adequately provided they improve their facilities for observation and practice-teach- 
ing, an impro\ement that can be hastened by the state's progressive insistence upon 
better qualifications for its certificates. 



' See Section IV, paces "1 to 80, and Section XM. 



VI 
VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 

This section discusses (1) the general problem of vocational education, (2) the exist- 
ing situation in \'erinont, and (3) its special trade schools; and presents (4) a con- 
structive program. 

The two special schools in Vermont were visited by several members of the enquiry 
staff, and the general study and the particular recommendations are based upon a 
familiarity with what is being planned and done for vocational education in this and 
other countries. 

L The Problem of Vocational Education 
While the entire system of schools in the United States is feeling the pressure of 
our changing social and economic conditions, there is perhaps no field of education 
in which more confusion exists than in that relating to vocational training, designated 
indiscriminately as industrial education or vocational or trade training. Within the 
last ten years schools for trade instruction have been inaugurated in many states in 
the Union either as a part of the public school system or related to it, but it is still 
true that the success of such schools, their adaptation to the needs of their com- 
munities, and the relation which they ought to bear to the public school system are 
far from being completely worked out. 

In inaugurating a school system as an agency of civilization, the modem demo- 
cratic state has in view two distinct objects: first, to develop the mind and the spirit 
of the youth, to teach him self-control, and thus to fit him for citizenship. This is what 
is generally understood as education. Secondly, it is the purpose of such a state to 
fit each child to become an effective economic unit in the state's life. This is voca- 
tional education. The state must have both ends in view and must aim to serve them 
both, but it must also be careful not to confuse them. It is not possible to turn the ele- 
mentary and secondary school into mere training-places for the vocations. To do this is 
to abandon the chief purpose for which these schools exist. On the other hand, it is 
hopeless to expect that a boy or a girl will look toward the vocational school so long 
as it is wholly unrelated to and separated from the common school system. In other 
words, the vocational school must have its roots and growth in a common school sys- 
tem which, while its main purpose is to educate, still educates its pupils into an appre- 
ciation of the economic conditions and problems of their own countryside. The ele- 
mentary school must develop the sympathy of the child for the conmiunity in which 
he lives, if it hopes to guide him successfully to a vocational school which shall prepare 
him for a useful life in that community. To-day the elementary school guides him 
away from any such vocational ideal. It does not interest its pupils in the trades that 
they see about them, and a school intended to train for such trades has no connection 



126 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

witli the common school system. There is no door by which the boy passes easily from 
the one to the other. It is a part of the difficult problem of every modern state both 
to educate for life and to train for economic productiveness, to develop both the 
general system of schools for citizenship and a series of special schools or courses for 
vocations; to have each system of schools sympathetic and helpful to one anothai' and 
yet not to confuse the two purposes. 

Several features of our American life have tended to obscure this relation between 
education and training, and have tended also to make the relation of the elementary 
schools to the trade schools more difficult. 

One of these difficulties lies in the great emphasis that has been placed in Amer- 
ica upon preparation for the professions, — particularly for the professions of law, 
medicine, and engineering. For these quasi-public callings there is needed not only 
a long preliminai'y education, but a sound course of theoretical training. The prepa- 
ration for a trade demands, on the other hand, a shorter preliminary education, with 
a technical training to give skill in tliat trade. 

In the United States, as in all other countries, the world lives on the trades, not on 
the professions. For what we eat, for what we wear, for that with which we are clothed 
and warmed, we depend day by day on the skill and efficiency of those who go into 
the trades. Society needs hundreds of skilled men in the trades where it needs one 
lawyer or physician or engineer. Nevertheless, on account of tlie prominence of these 
great professions, it has liitherto been easy, in the United States, to obtain state 
appropriations for the education that prepares for the professions, and difficult to 
get support for schools that aim to train men for the farm, for the dairy, for the car- 
penter's bench, or for the mechanic's lathe. 

This hesitation arises not alone out of the relative prominence of the great profes- 
sions ; it is due in great measure to the economic transition through which we are 
passing. Only very recently in America and in England has the school been looked to 
for the training of men for the trades. Apprenticeship was the door through which the 
boy formerly went into trade. Until recently the girl did not go into the skilled trades 
at all, but to-day the problem of trade education is just as important for the girl as 
it is for the boy. Furthermore, the apprenticeship method of training for the trades 
has broken down. The school is practically the only agency that society offers for the 
formal preparation of its youth for those fundamental and necessary vocations upon 
which society must always live. For this reason, therefore, the necessity for the trade 
school and for its right ai-ticulation with the public school system has become in 
America in the last twenty years a pressing economic as well as a pressing educational 
question. The trade schools in European countries, notably in Germany, have been 
carried to a high degree of efficiency. They are related in a most successful way to 
the system of common schools. The child who is steering toward a trade — and the 
great majority of all children travel in that direction — begins to differentiate in his 
school course between his tenth and his twelfth year, and finds open for him a trade 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 127 

school articulated with his elementary school, in which he may get the necessary 
grounding and skill for a successful entry into his chosen vocation. 

The schools that have been inaugurated to meet this need in the United States have 
assumed the following forms: an industrial school intended to prepare the wage- 
earner in the mechanical trades and industries; a trade school in agriculture planned 
to train the farmer, the dairyman, and the horticulturist ; a commercial school intended 
to give training in commercial pursuits like bookkeeping, stenography, typewriting, 
and salesmanship; and finally a training-school in the household arts intended to 
prepare those who are not wage-earners for occupations connected with the house- 
hold. 

This effort is not a new one. Fifty years ago, when the schools of agriculture and 
mechanic arts were started, the idea of education for the trades was a strong factor in 
their inauguration, but such schools at that time, and for many years after, had 
to meet not only the lack of an adequate elementary school system in which they 
might find root, but they had to meet also an almost overpowering tendency to trans- 
form themselves into schools for the professions. Thus, the schools of mechanic arts, 
founded originally — hke that at Worcester — for the training of mechanics, devel- 
oped into schools of engineering. The agricultural schools, instead of training men 
to become farmers, became training-places for scientific agriculturists, whose functions 
lay in the main either in teaching or in work for the Department of Agriculture. To- 
day the elementary school system has developed to the point at which the trade 
school may well find congenial soil for its roots, if only it can be rightly related 
to the elementary school, and if it can be held firmly to its legitimate work, — the 
training of youth for a trade rather than their preparation for a profession. Let us 
turn now to a consideration of what has been done in Vermont. 



2. The Existing Situation in Vermont 

In the fortieth Vermont School Report — that of 1908 — the superintendent of 
education calls attention in an effective way to the industries of Vermont and the 
relation that vocational training should have to these industries. It goes without 
saying that the form of industrial school which any state should adopt will depend 
upon the trades which that state needs to foster. In this report the superintendent 
brings out clearly that agriculture is the principal industry of Vermont, although 
the state may be described rather as a state of husbandries, and that its agricultural 
pursuits must lie along certain lines of specialization, like butter making, sugar 
making, poultry raising, stock breeding, and timber growing. 

Next to agriculture the superintendent of education points out manufactures and 
their possibilities, and next to these forestry and the possibilities of timber ; and he 
recommends in this report that the curriculum should be enlivened and made practi- 



128 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

cal by the addition of such studies as would interest the student in agriculture, 
manufacture, and forestry. 

There was issued also by the superintendent of education, in 1911, a manual of 
agriculture designed for the guidance of teachers. This, with the introduction of 
serious courses in manual training, domestic science, and agricultux-e in a very few 
schools, constitutes the most of what has been done in the effort to make the elemen- 
tary school and the secondary school touch more directly the occupations of the com- 
munities in which the schools ai-e situated. It also goes without saying that the most 
effective preliminary preparation for any vocation lies in accurate and fundamental 
grounding in the preparatory studies of the general curriculum; for example, the 
knowledge of good English and of elementary mathematics are effective preliminaries 
to skill in any vocation. 

There are at present no adequate or trustworthy statistics to show the rate and 
amount of progress of pupils in the rural schools in the courses of instruction that 
look toward vocational opportunities, but the careful observer cannot avoid the infer- 
ence that the great bulk of the pupils who leave the rural schools have done little more 
than to learn to read indifferently, to write clumsily, and to make ordinary calcula- 
tions with difficulty, while they have not been pointed in any effective way toward any 
skilled vocation. Still less have they found in their school curriculum sympathy with 
these callings or the preparation for skill in them. The instruction in manual training 
and domestic science that is given in the elementary schools is confined almost wholly 
to the cities, and is a negligible influence so far as the larger problem of preparation 
for a vocation is concerned. The present elementary school system, therefore, lacks the 
qualities that will either interest a pupil in the trades or will give him the elementary 
grounding that furnishes skill in them. 

In the secondary schools 103 pupils were reported as studying agriculture during 
1911-12 in twelve approved high schools, and 126 pupils were studying domestic sci- 
ence in two approved high schools, — Burlington and Rutland. Four pupils studied 
agriculture in one approved academy, and nine jjupils were receiving instruction in 
domestic science in another approved academy. 

A commercial course of study is found in a greater or lesser degree of organization 
in twenty-six of the seventy-four approved high schools, in ten of the eighteen ap- 
proved academies, and in seven of the twenty-five parochial schools. Eight hundred 
and ninety-one pupils — about one-sixth of the whole number in the approved high 
schools — were enrolled in commercial work, and two hundred and eighty, or about 
one-seventh of the pupils in the approved academies, were enrolled in similar courses. 
In 1908 an annual state aid of $250 was authorized for any high school or gram- 
mar school whose course of study included instruction in manual training approved 
by the superintendent of education. The total expenditure for this purpose was lim- 
ited to $5000, a sum sufficient to subsidize twenty schools at the rate assumed. Only 
four schools were receiving such aid in 1911-12. The legislature of 1912 amended 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 129 

the act of 1908 by providing for an annual state aid of $200 for high school courses 
in agriculture, in domestic science, and in manual training, but this amendment 
did not become effective until July 1, 1913. This brief statement shows in sufficient 
detail what steps have been taken on the part of the state to inti'oduce into the cur- 
riculum studies that make for vocational skill. In the main these studies — such, for 
instance, as manual training — serve to enrich the curriculum and to interest the 
pupil of the elementary and secondary school in vocational subjects. They are not 
intended to transform the schools into trade schools. 



3. Special Trade Schools 

In the establishment of distinct trade schools, also, Vermont has been conserva- 
tive. Only one school that may be fairly called a distinctive trade school of the 
elementary type is to-day in existence upon state foundation. This is the Randolph 
State School of Agriculture. In 1910, when the Randolph Normal School was discon- 
tinued, there was established in its stead a state school of agriculture for the purpose 
of " developing the agricultural resources of the state through practical instruction 
in agriculture, including tillage, crop raising, gardening, orcharding, forestry, dairy- 
ing, stock raising, farm management, marketing, and the allied subjects of domestic 
science and the manual arts." It will be noted that the field of this school has been 
made so broad that it may touch almost any trade that has any connection vnth 
agriculture. The state provided .?20,000 for the purchase of real estate, the erection 
of buildings, and the provision of equipment, and an annual appropriation of $10,000 
has been made for the maintenance of the school. 

The Randolph State School of Agriculture began its work in the fall of 1911, 
enrolling fifty-six young men during the year 1911-12. The principal of the school 
reported, March 24, 1913, eighty-three students enrolled dui'ing the year 1912-13, 
of which number seventy-two were in attendance. The average age of entrance was 
between sixteen and seventeen. The majority of the students came from the distinc- 
tively rui-al communities of the state, with the educational equipment furnished by 
the rural schools. About half of the pupils had one or more years of high school 
work. During the past year eleven of the fourteen counties were repi-esented in the 
enrolment of the school. This school offers a two-year course of instruction for pupils 
with only a common school preparation, a one-year course for high school graduates, 
and a six weeks' winter course in dairying and general agriculture. A special elective 
course of one year is also announced. There is no doubt of the desirability of such 
a school as the Randolph School proposes to be. It is well located, and while not 
fully equipped as yet for carrying on effectively its practical instruction, its promise 
is large. It is a vocational school in the proper sense of that term. The legislature of 
1912 appropriated S5000 for the special purposes of the school and S25,000 for the 
construction of a dormitory. 



130 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

A second school of the Randolph type was authorized by the legislature of 1912 
(Act No. 67), to be located in Addison or Rutland County. The location and estab- 
lishment of such school were conditioned upon the approval of the governor and the 
educational commission. An appropriation of §20,000 was provided for construction 
and also an annual appropriation of §10,000 for maintenance. 

In 1910, tiirough the generosity of Mr. Theodore N. \'ail, a school of agriculture 
was organized in connection with the Lyndon Institute at Lyndonville. While the 
school is separate from the institute, the arrangements are such that the two insti- 
tutions cooperate in the use of buildings and the employment of some of the teachers. 

The object of this school of agriculture is to give "practical and theoretical in- 
struction to Vermont boys who have neither the money nor inclination to pursue 
an extensive college course. The agricultural school is strictly a farmer's school, and 
it aims to educate students along the various lines of work that will be met with on 
the farm and in the home life. It is not intended to fit students for college, but to 
furnish a line of training that will be of immediate use in farming and its allied in- 
dustries, like carpentry, blacksmithiiig, masonry, and concrete work, preparing the 
students not only to do farm work intelligently, but also to do for themselves prac- 
tically all the other work in connection with the farm, such as the repairing of build- 
ings from basement to roof and the repairing of wagons and machinery ; in a general 
way, making them independent of any outside skilled labor and also putting them in 
a position to assist their neighbors whenever spare time may permit." 

The course covers a period of two years of nine months each. The theoretical work 
is given at the Lyndon Institute, while the practical work is done in the shops and 
on the school farm. Pupils who have passed the state examinations for free tuition 
in secondary schools are admitted. A few pupils are admitted who have not had the 
requisite amount of preparation, provided they satisfy the dii-ector of their ability 
to pursue the work with profit. 

The annual expense of attendance, about S200, must be met by all pupils. This 
is done in two ways, either by cash payments or by work. Under the work payment 
system the school offers a few scholarships to Vermont boys, financially unable to pay 
their way. These scholarships enable the holders to pay their expenses by manual 
labor during vacation periods as well as during term time. Each pupil on the cash 
payment system is required to do six hundred hours of farm work before a certificate 
of graduation will be given. 

During 1911-12, fifty pupils were enrolled, twenty -seven in the second (Senior) 
year, all of whom came from Vermont, and twenty-three in the first (Freshman) year, 
five of whom came from Massachusetts. During 1912-13, seventeen second year pupils 
and thirty-six first year pupils were enrolled, a total of forty-three, ten of whom 
came from other states. 

For its regular class-room work the school utilizes the building of tlie Lvndon In- 
stitute. For its own special purposes it has a well -equipped shop-building, containing 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 131 

the blacksmith and carpenter shops; adequate farm buildings — horse stable, dairy 
barn, poultry house, root cellar, and so on ; work horses, herds of cattle, poultry, 
swine; a school farm consisting of over one hundred acres of tillage land divided 
into upland and lowland. In addition the practical resources of Mr. Vail's "Speedwell 
Farms" are at the disposal of the school. The study plan of the school provides a care- 
fully worked out combination of class-room instruction and practical work, under the 
direction of a competent staff of teachers. In addition to its usual teaching activ- 
ities the school has undertaken considerable agricultural extension work, such as 
orchard demonstrations, dairy testing, and farmers' institutes. 

These two schools are trade schools in the ti'ue sense, and they are seeking a rational 
and safe relation to the school system. They constitute to-day the only serious at- 
tempts in the state of Vermont to deal with vocational training. 



4. A Constructive Progkam 

The school problem in Vermont, as in all other states, lies in the question how 
best to utilize the time of children from six to eighteen years old, so that these shall 
contribute in the most direct way both to citizenship and to economic efficiency. The 
state to-day compels the attendance in school of normal children between the ages 
of eight and fifteen inclusive for at least twenty-eight weeks of each year. Unless, 
however, the state is able to provide means by which the time of its children is more 
profitably and more economically used in school than it is at present, there is no jus- 
tice either from the standpoint of morals, education, or economics in its monopoly 
of the years of compulsory school attendance. The pi'esent situation lends itself to 
a regime under which the communities suffer from idlers who are idlers because they 
have not been taught to do work that is based upon the acquirement of skill. What 
ought the state to do in order not only to develop the intellectual and moral qualities 
of its children, but also to fit them to become economically productive.'' 

The first step in the answer to this question has been made in the policy that has 
been outlined for the reform of the school cui'riculum in the elementary and secondary 
school and for the reorganization of the educational administi'ation. No successful 
system of trade schools can be effected until the general system of public schools is 
efficient and is in sympathy wth the economic problems of their environment. On 
this basis, a policy similar to that suggested for the training of rural teachers would 
appear to meet the situation most quickly and completely. This would involve the 
establishment of a thorough vocational course in agriculture in the lower or junior 
division of each of the proposed central or regional high schools. Such action would 
provide 15 or 18 stations for teaching the principles of fanning to boys from 12 to 
16 years of age. The sole purpose would be to make successful farmers. As compared 
with special schools, such a plan has the advantage of economy, it will serve a larger 
area, and can be introduced as soon as competent teachers and a modest equipment 



132 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

can be secured. It could not hope to duplicate the facilities that the school at Randolph 
enjoys, but the great majority of these central schools would be so situated as to 
bring fully adequate facilities for this purpose within easy reach. With right en- 
couragement and advice it is hardly too much to expect each such community even- 
tually to develop its own model farm. In the two upper years of the central school 
advanced courses should be provided for such pupils as wish to become teachers, farm 
managers, or special experts, and who will probably go on to a college of agriculture. 
It goes without saying that a first-class insti-uctor should be employed — preferably 
a graduate of the state agricultural college. Under his direction the department as 
a whole should become the centre of agricultural experiment and instruction for the 
entire vicinity; it should maintain close relations with the agricultural college, and 
serve as a distributing point for its literature and advice. For the requisite academic 
work the courses in agriculture should cooperate with all other courses in the inter- 
ests of economy. 

Following this fundamental step, the state could then proceed to develop gradu- 
ally vocational schools for the training of its youth in those activities upon which the 
economic welfare of Vermont depends. To-day it is clear that her greatest opportunity 
lies in the intensive development of her agricultural resources. The beginning of this 
intensive development must be made in the rural schools through a form of instruction 
and a method of organization that will cause agriculture and its attendant activities 
to become to the boys and girls of the state a vocational goal worth striving for. 
Supplemental to the instruction given in the public school systems, there will need 
to be developed a certain number of schools of the type existing in Randolph and 
Lyndonville, but the number of such schools, their location, their relation to the ele- 
mentary school system, and their development must lie in the hands of the educa- 
tional administration of Vermont. This is necessary for two reasons. First of all, the 
adaptation of the vocational schools to our American conditions has not yet been 
thoroughly worked out. One cannot transfer bodily the German trade school to 
America. It has taken generations to develop this trade school in Germany, and it has 
depended in large measure for its success upon the German stratificjition of soci- 
ety. The son of the small tradesman, of the mechanic, of the railway employee in 
Germany expects to remain in the social plane in which he has been born. The 
whole arrangement of society steers him naturally and easily into a trade. This 
situation does not exist in America. 

In the second place it must be realized that experiments in trade schools are the 
most costly of educational experiments, just as their successful conduct is economi- 
cally the most profitable. The following table from the report of the Wisconsin Com- 
mission upon plans for the extension of industrial and agricultural training (1911), 
showing the expense of the county schools of agriculture of that state, contains per- 
tinent evidence upon this point. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 

County Schools of Agriculture of Wisconsin. Financial Statistics, I9II 



133 



County 


Pupils 

enrolled 


Total Cost per 
Pupil 


Cost to State 
per Pupil 


Cost to County 
per Pupil 




93 

40 
49 
157 

78 


$112 

179 

121 

91 

91 


S43 

100 
81 
26 
52 






79 












39 











These county schools of agriculture correspond in general to the State School of 
Agriculture at Randolph, where, with an enrolment of 83, the total cost per pupil 
amounted, in 1912-13, to $147.55. 

In addition, such experience as we have had shows that the trade school, whether 
agricultural or mechanical or commercial, is in the main a local school. The necessity 
for pupils to leave home to attend an adequate school increases so enormously the 
burden of family and individual expense that such schools must be easily accessible. 
While, therefore, it seems clear that the organization charged with the administra- 
tion of the schools of the state should proceed as rapidly as possible to take up the 
problem of trade education, it should proceed with fair conservatism. 

It is perfectly clear that one step in such a development should be some sort of 
relation between the State Agricultural College and the training-schools in agri- 
culture. Here are two distinct forms of institution, but it would be undesirable that 
they should be developed without relation to each other as they have been hitherto, 
and one of the problems of the board of education in its development of agricultural 
trade schools must be the establishment of a fruitful relationship between the State 
Agricultural College and the trade schools of agriculture. 

While the trade of agriculture is to-day that one whose development would have 
most significance for Vermont, it goes without saying that there are other vocations 
into which the youth of the state go and for which they should have opportunity 
for a technical fitting. The list of the gainful occupations in Vermont for which voca- 
tional training might be specially devised shows great diversity, but brings out the 
fact that the pursuits of agriculture are those which at this time offer the widest 
opportunity for the state's action. 

A wise program in the formation of vocational schools would seem to be, first, the 
reform of the public school system so that the youth of Vermont may be educated 
toward the occupations of the communities in which they live; secondly, the estab- 
lishment at each of the proposed regional high schools, in its four-year junior divi- 
sion, of a high grade vocational course in agriculture for bovs from 12 to 16 years 
of age, and in its senior division of advanced courses for older pupils ; thirdly, the 
gradual formation under the direction of the board of education of trade schools in 
agriculture rightly related both to the public school system and to the Agricultural 
College; and finally, the investigation by the state board of the question of trade 
courses or schools for other vocations. 



VII 
RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS 

The matter of records and accounts naturally came to the attention of several mem- 
bers of the enquiry staff. A special study was made of the situation in some twenty 
towns. 

Business Administration 

The most practical improvement suggested by tliis study of the business admin- 
istration of the Vermont schools is that a uniform method of accounting should be 
adopted by the towns. 

The blanks on which the towns supply their data to the state are at present uni- 
form, but the accounting methods and results are variable. Unless these methods and 
results also are uniform, it is not possible for the state to receive correct informa- 
tion. 

The essential object of the method of accounting should be an exhibition of the 
true revenue and expenditure of the schools of the town. Only by adopting this method 
can uniform results be secured. Instead of the true revenue and expenditure, most of 
the town reports contain merely a summary of the actual receipts and payments, and 
these reports of itemized expenditures are cast in such variable forms that no two of 
them are alike. A report of actual receipts and payments is inadequate, because the 
total payments made by a concern during a year do not necessarily exhibit the total 
expenditures, or the total cash receipts do not necessarily exhibit the real income. 
Thus, if a corporation's income is SI 0,000 for a certain period, and during that period 
it lives on its credit and does not pay the charges accruing, which amount say to S9000, 
to report that its expenditures were nil because no bills were actually paid does not, 
standing alone, convey a true statement of the facts. If these unpaid bills of one period 
are paid during the next period, this does not make the payments, standing alone, 
the true expenditure for the second period; a deficit thus caused in the second period, 
if unexplained, is misleading. The method suggested below enables the towns to show, 
in addition to their actual receipts and payments, their true income and expenditure 
also. The state will thus be coiTectly informed. 

The absence, in most town reports, of statements giving the real resources and lia- 
bilities of the schools has produced a divergence of practice in regard to the funds. In 
some towns an accumulated deficit is carried forward as a school debt, but the custom 
is not uncommon for towns merely to charge or credit the General Funds of the town 
with school deficits, or with surplus revenue from the schools, as the case may be. 

There is nothing complex in the suggested method of accounting from an acount- 
ant's standpoint, but it must be remembered that a form to carry out this method 
would be used by several hundred towns, and by as many officials, most of whom pos- 
sess no especial accounting qualifications. The problem, therefore, is to prepare a form 



RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS 135 

that will be simple enough to be comprehended by all who use it, and that will yet 
obtain the desired result. 

The form must exhibit the finances of the town schools so as to give, in genei-al, 
a presentation of the accounts in such a form that the distribution of the expenditure 
for different items in school control and school instruction can be seen at a glance. 
It is desirable to use, or if necessary adopt, the forms recommended bv the United 
States Bureau of Education and the Department of Superintendence of the National 
Education Association.' 



Legal Date of Reports 

One reason for the absence of correct accounting in the Vermont schools is found 
in the imperfect time sequence imposed by law. 

Two financial reports are required. One of them, an itemized statement under oath 
of the actual cash expenditures of the town for school purposes for the fiscal year 
ending June 30, must be filed with the town clerk by July 3. This report is for the 
information of the state authorities in apportioning the state aid, and is a prerequisite 
for such aid, the law requiring that it be transmitted to the superintendent of educa- 
tion by July 10. The other report required by law is a full record of the actions of the 
board of school directors, together with an exhibit of the orders drawn for school pur- 
poses. This also must be filed with the town clerk by July 15, and in a printed form. 

The state aid, an important element in the full report due on July 15, is thus de- 
pendent upon the preliminar\- report due on July 10. But it is evident that the amount 
of the state aid can hardlv be calculated on the basis of the July 10 report and an- 
nounced in time to be of use in the report due on July 15. The full report on July 15 
must thus be necessarily defective in an essential respect. This difficulty, imposed by 
the law itself upon the school directors, has prevented serious attempts to improve 
the accounting. It has also, probably, had an effect even upon the prehminarv' itemized 
statement. Such anomalies generaDy arise, as is true probably in this case, fi'om laws 
passed at difi^erent times, and vriih different objects, and toa failure to haraionize them. 

The remedy is simple. The law should be amended so as to require the school 
directors to bring the fiscal year to a close on June 30, but to file their full report 
on September 1 instead of on July 15. This would enable the report, by including 
the state aid, to give the true revenue and expenditures. 

In addition to this simple yet essential change it should further be enacted that 
the school directors be required to ascertain the entire indebtedness for loans and 
unpaid bills up to June 30, and to incorporate these articles in the preliminary 
statement furnished to the state. To this end, the law should pronde further that 
all bills and claims bv creditors, with the necessary' showing of details, should be 
rendered at an early date after Jime 30, say by July 5. Appropriate penalties for delay 

> U. S. Bnrean of Education Balletin. 1912, No. 3. Whole number. 471. 



136 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

beyond that day would ensure this presentation. The requirement for this speedy 
closing of the fiscal year's accounts should greatly expedite the preparation of the 
current indebtedness as it stands on June 30. 

The items that should be included in the preliminary report of the school direc- 
tors, and the form in which it would seem best to cast these items, along with a sug- 
gested form for the complete and final report for the schools of a town, will be found 
in the bulletin on uniform records and reports to which reference has been made. 

These improvements in the form of accounting and in the time sequence that will 
enable it to be done correctly are the most important suggestions that need to be 
made. There are, however, numerous changes in other documents, which, while of less 
moment, would contribute much toward the efticiency of the schools' business admin- 
istration. 

Records and Meetings 

In the Vermont to^vn, the board of school directors being the school authority 
in which is vested by law the disbursement of the school funds, the record of its pro- 
ceedings is the foundation of the school transactions and should be kept with care. 
The keeping of this record is the duty of the clerk, who is appointed by the board. 

The law requires the keeping of "a permanent record of the proceedings of the 
board."' 

This "Permanent Record" should be kept according to a more businesslike system 
than the present. A bound book should be provided for this purpose, and the book 
should bear the caption, " Permanent Record." In this book should appear the min- 
utes of the proceedings of the board, and especially the following: 

1. The election of the chairman. 

2. The appointment of the clerk, and his resignation should that occur. 

3. Memoranda of all agreements pertaining to the appointment of teachers, the 
regulation of their salaries, etc. 

4. Memoranda of all contracts made by the board, especially contracts for the 
transportation of children. 

5. A clear definition of the period covered by the school term. 

The school district will thus have, in a form to which reference can always be 
made, the fundamental facts upon which the administration and the financial opera- 
tions of the district depend. 

The law provides^ that the board must hold its first meeting on or before the third 
day of July, in order to organize and elect a chairman. Other meetings are left to 
the discretion of tiie board. This seems wise and allows each board to meet its own 
local exigencies. The method of calling a meeting is not of great importance, but it 
might be well to provide specifically that it be done by the clerk upon the request 
of any one of the directors. 

' Chapter 46, section 999. ' Chapter 45, section 989. 



RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS 137 

Disbursement of School Moneys 

The law,^ in the section defining the duties of the board of school directors, pro- 
vides that they shall "draw orders on the town treasurer"' in payment of the ex- 
penses incurred by them in the management of the schools. 

The method of attesting the order varies, the law apparently leaving to the discre- 
tion of the board whether orders shall be signed by all three of the directors. In prac- 
tice sometimes one director signs the order for himself and his co-directors, the fact 
being indicated by the identity of the handwTiting. In one instance it was found 
that blank orders were signed in advance by two directors, leaving the body of the 
order to be filled in by the third director when he added his signature. 

It is suggested that each order for the disbursement of money for school purposes 
shall bear the actual signature of two directors. It might be even better to alter the 
law and remit to the clerk alone the ministerial function of signing the orders. The 
board would thus be the executive authority in the school district, and the clerk 
the official who would certify the expenses authorized by it. This would simplify the 
administration, but the minutes of the board would have to be kept with great care, 
and the clerk should be disabled by law from holding any incompatible office, such 
as that of town treasurer. 

The statement of the pui-pose for which orders are drawn was found in many cases 
to be inadequate. Orders often show only such statements as : " Pay to the order of 
John Doe thirty dollars for transportation and charge same to account of moneys ap- 
propriated for school purposes." Such an order indicates merely the fact that a cer- 
tain individual is paid for transporting children to school, but it lacks the essential 
facts of the number of children transported and the period of time covered by the 
transportation, so as to ascertain whether the service for which the order is drawn 
is authorized by the contract for transportation. 

A bill should be rendered at the end of each school term by each person author- 
ized to transport children, and should contain the name of the school for which the 
children were transported, the names of the children carried, and the period of time 
over which the transportation was made. The order should refer directly to the bill, 
so that verification of the facts may be possible. 

The orders for the payment of the teachers' salaries are very frequently drawn as 
loosely as those for transportation. It is common to find such orders merely specify- 
ing "for teaching weeks." 

The orders for teachers' salaries should contain the following: 

(a) Name of teacher (d) Number of weeks 

(b) Name or number of school (e) Rate per week 

(r) Dates of the period covered (J") Amount to be paid 

It is a simple matter to have on hand a regular printed blank showing these items. 

' Chapter 45. section 990. 



138 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Supplies and other Expenditures 

The orders for the payment of other expenditures sometimes specify merely "for 
•suppHes" or "for labor." These orders should contain a reference to the bill and show 
generally the nature of the supplies or expense and the date thereof. The bill should 
contain an itemized statement. 

The purchasing system would be improved if the school directors were to purchase 
only on written requisitions, which should be kept in book form with duplicate carbon 
copies. When the bills are received the items should be compared with the requisi- 
tion, and the fact that the bill had been received should be noted on the duplicate, 
in order that it may be determined readily what bills have not been received and 
consequently what is the outstanding indebtedness. 

If these suggestions were adopted, the orders for the disbursement of school moneys 
would show, in a general way, all the necessary information that would enable one 
not acquainted with local affairs to acquire a clear conception of the purpose of the 
order, and of its details. The orders should have securely affixed to them the bills for 
which they authorize the payment. After the audit by the local auditors, the orders 
with the bills attached should be filed in the same succession in which they appear in 
the town treasurer's cash-book, and they should remain in the custody of the town 
treasurer for future reference. 



Payment of Teachers' Salaries 

No regularity prevails as to the payment of teachers. The salary has been paid for 
as short a period as one week. Usually the payment is for from four weeks to a school 
term. 

It is certainly desirable that school teachers, like all other classes of persons on 
salary, should be paid at regularly fixed intervals. The complication that exists is 
caused by the general methods of financing the town. The taxes come in irregularly, 
and the treasury of a town is often, therefore, so low as to make regular payments 
difficult. The town, however, should not shift this burden to the shoulders of the 
school teachers; it would be better for it to borrow money for short intervals and 
to pay the teachers regularly. 

The law provides^ that "a teacher in the public schools of any town shall be en- 
titled to receive monthly payment of wages due under the contract of said teacher 
with such town, provided such teacher demands of the Ijoard of school directors such 
montldy payment." This principle of monthly payments should be canied into effect, 
and it would seem wise to make it mandatory. 



' No. 45. Acts of 1908. sectic 



RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS 139 

Transportation 

The law provides* that "said board may, in its discretion, provide conveyances for 
pupils to and from school at the expense of the town from such points as it desig- 
nates, or may pay a reasonable sum for the board of such pupils while in attendance 
upon school." Any person interested may appeal from the decision of the board. ^ 

The conveyances are owned by the towns in some cases, but in no instance was 
it found that the towns owned the horses. The supplying of horses is included in 
the contract with the individuals operating the conveyance. Parents of pupils are al- 
lowed to furnish transportation for their own children as well as for others residing in 
the same neighborhood, and are paid therefor. Frequently it appears that parents 
so contracting are lacking in public spirit and drive rather hard bargains with the 
school directors ; well-to-do people are found who derive revenue from transporting 
their own children to school. 

Contracts for transportation are occasionally put into writing, but in most cases they 
are based upon a verbal understanding with the board. Sometimes no agreement of 
any kind is made with the board beforehand, but when the period of transportation 
is over a settlement is negotiated between the town and the parties engaged in the 
work, and usually such a settlement is not in favor of the town. 

It is suggested with some emphasis that in every case of a contract for transpor- 
tation, the contract should be made before the commencement of the school term, 
should be in writing, and should embody all details, such as compensation and the 
number of children to be transported, which might later be masters of material dis- 
pute. The contract signed by both parties in interest sliould be retained by the clerk 
of the board of school directors and recorded in the permanent records. 

These suggestions, taken in connection with the forms that are recommended for 
rendering the reports, would provide a business system for the Vermont schools that 
would be quite adequate to the public needs, and one sufficiently simple to be prac- 
tically available. 



* Chapter 46 of the General Laws, section 1006. 

' Chapter 46 of the General Laws, sections 1007. 1008. 



VIII 
THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 

Beginning in 1782 with a general provision for school support at the option of the 
towns, the requirements for school maintenance have been steadily advanced. In 1866 
the common schools became entirely free. In 1902 the state tax was increased to eight 
cents, in 1904 every town was required by law to provide for secondary instruction, 
in 1906 state aid for transportation of pupils was voted, in 1908 state aid for man- 
ual training, in 1910 state aid for teachers' training courses in high schools, and in 
1912 there was a consolidation of state school funds. 



State Revenues applied to Elementary and Secondary Schools 
Until the passage by the legislature of 1912 of an act providing for the consoli- 
dation and distribution of the state school funds, the state revenues applied to ele- 
mentary and secondary schools were as follows : 

(«) A State School Tax was assessed annually at the rate of eight per cent upon the 
grand list,' and after receipt at the state treasury was apportioned by the state board 
of education 2 and paid to the several towns and cities in proportion to the number 
of legal schools maintained during the preceding school year. In making the general ap- 
portionment, $-15,000 was deducted from the total and divided among the towns rais- 
ing fifty per cent or more of their grand list for school purposes. The grand list is one 
per cent of the assessed value of the real and personal property plus the ratable polls. 
The report of the state treasurer shows that the eight per cent tax for 1911 amounted 
to $165,632.41. After deducting the $45,000 reserve, $120,632.41 remained for ap- 
portionment among 2425 legal schools. For 1912 this tax amounted to $176,603.75, 
which, less the $45,000 reserve, left $131,603.75 available for apportionment among 
2397 legal schools.' 

(b) The Permanent Public School Fund was created in 1906 by combining the 
$240,000 returned by the national government to the state in settlement of Civil War 
claims, the Huntington Fund of $211,131.46, and the United States Deposit Fund of 
$669,086.79, making a total of $1,120,218.25. The principal of the fund amounted 
to $1,120,596.40 on June 30, 1912. The income has been apportioned to the several 
towns, according to the number of legal schools maintained,* $15,000 being deducted 
from the total in making the general apportionment and divided among towns raising 
fifty per cent or more of their grand list for school purposes. Aside from the $15,000 

' Section 1091 of the Public Statutes. 

' In accordance with the provisions of sections 1096 and 1096 of the Public Statutes, as amended by Nos. 34 and 47 

of the Acts of 1908. 

' The apportionment for 1911 was $120,602.16; for 1912. $131,876.63. 

* Under the provisions of section 1084 of the Public Statutes. 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT OP THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM Ul 

reserve, there was distributed from this source $36,361.31 in 1911, and $34,807.49 
in 1912.1 

(c) The Transportation Aid of $20,000 appropriated annually for the payment of 
transportation and board of resident pupils in attendance upon the elementary schools 
in the several towns.^ In 1912 the sums distributed varied from $15.67 to the towns 
in Grand Isle County to $3,118.75 to those in Windsor County, and from nothing 
to four towns to more than $750 to the town of Springfield. 

{(!) Union Supervision Aid. Since 1906' the state agrees to pay annually to the 
towns concerned, toward the salary of the union superintendent, the sum of $1000 
when the annual salary of the superintendent is not less than $1250, and in addition 
thereto one-half of the excess above $1200 of any superintendent's salary; such addi- 
tional apportionment to any one union not to exceed .$300. Under the provisions of 
this law there was paid to the several towns under union supervision for 1911 the 
sum of $44,224.99, and for 1912 the sum of .$50,843. 

(e) Rebate for Advanced Instruction. Chapter 47 of the Public Statutes requires 
towns either to maintain a high school or to provide for the payment of the tuition, 
in other schools, of pupils desiring secondary school advantages. Section 1023 of this 
chapter contains certain provisions for state aid to towns paying this tuition. On 
the basis of tuitions not exceeding $24 per year, there was paid to towns expending 
for school purposes fifty per cent or more of the grand list, one-half of the amount 
expended for tuitions; to towns expending sixty per cent or more, three-fourths 
of the amount, and to towns expending seventy per cent or more, the entire amount. 
By the terms of Act No. 72, Acts of 1912, an appropriation of $59,982.51 was made 
for the payment of the rebates for advanced in.struction for 1911 and 1912. The sec- 
tion providing for the payment of these rebates was repealed by section 9, Act No. 
76, Acts of 1912. 

Consolidated School Fund.* In 1912 the receipts from the eight percent state tax 
and the revenue from the interest on the permanent school fund were, together with an 
annual appropriation of $50,000, consolidated into a single fund for apportionment 
and distribution among the various towns and other school imits for the encourage- 
ment of public education. By the establisliment of this consolidated fund the former 
provisions for special state aid for advanced instruction, and for transportation and 
boai-d of pupils, were repealed. This consolidated fund is to be apportioned according 
to the following graduated scheme : 

(a) On account of cuiTent expenses. 

To^vns devoting more than 50 per cent of their grand list to current school 
expenses shall receive 40 per cent of this excess ; those so devoting more than 60 

' The total of this distribution, talien from the report of the state treasurer for 1911-12. page 71. is $101,168.80. 

' By the provisions of section 1014 of the Public Statutes. 

' Section 941 of chapter 42 of the Public Statutes. 

* By the provisions of Act No. 76, Acts of 1912 (approved February 22, 1918). 



142 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

per cent shall receive, in addition, 20 per cent of such excess ; and those so de- 
voting more than 70 per cent shall receive, in addition, 10 per cent of this last 
excess. 

(b) On account of tuition for advanced instruction. 

Towns expending 50 per cent of their grand list for cuiTent school expenses shall 
receive 25 per cent of their annual expenditure for high school or academy tuition 
up to $30 per student per year; those which so expend 70 per cent of their grand 
list shall receive 50 per cent of their outlay for tuition with the same limit. To 
make this effective, the average weekly salary of the elementary school teachers 
must not exceed $11, nor may the annual number of weeks of elementary school 
exceed 36. 

(c) On account of transportation and board. 

Towns shall receive 25 per cent or 50 per cent of their expenditure for transpor- 
tation and board on the same terms as in (6), with the same proviso as to salaries 
and number of weeks of school. 

(d) On account of trained teachers. 

Towns shall receive one dollar per week for each graduate of a normal school, 
training course, or recognized kindergarten training-school who is employed as a 
teacher in a rural school. Such graduate must be legally qualified and certified, 
and must have received not less than $7, exclusive of board, as a beginner, and 
at least $8 after 30 weeks of teaching in rural schools since graduation. 

(e) The remainder of the fund shall be divided among the towns and unorgan- 
ized units according to the number of legal scliools in each, provided that : 

(1) When a school has been discontinued the town shall be entitled to its 
share as a legal school for one year after its discontinuance; to one-half of 
such share for the second year, and to one-fourth of such share for the third 
year after discontinuance. 

(2) A town expending less than 40 per cent of its grand list for cun-ent school 
purposes shall forfeit a corresponding percentage of its share of the remainder 
of the fund, and the sum forfeited shall be credited to the fund. 

(3) The school board shall furnish to the town clerks on or before July 3 an- 
nually, swoni statements of data concerned in the above provisions; and the 
town clerks shall, on or before the 10th of July, certify the same to the super- 
intendent of education. 



Local Support for Elementary and Secondary Schools 
Each town in the state is obliged to maintain for at least twenty-eight weeks in a 
year (one hundred and fifty days, including the usual holidays and others allowed by 
law) a sufficient number of elementary schools for the instruction of children who mav 
legally attend the public schools in that towiL These schools are to be located in such 
places and held at such times as, in the judgment of the board of school directors, will 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 143 

best serve the interests of education and so far as practicable give the pupils of the 
town equal advantages. The board of school directors is authorized to provide convey- 
ance for pupils to and from school at the expense of the town, or to pay a reasonable 
sum for the board of such pupils while in attendance upon school (Public Statutes, 
chapter 46). A special state aid is granted to towns furnishing transportation and 
board for their resident pupils in attendance upon elementary schools. 

The establishment and maintenance of kindergartens and evening schools by towns 
is also authorized. 

The statutes (section 1017) require that a town must maintain a high school or 
furnish higher instruction for its advanced pupils as follows: "The board of school 
directors shall, at an expense not to exceed eight dollars a term or twenty-four dol- 
lars a year for each pupil, unless the board is authorized by vote of the town to pay 
a higher tuition, provide and arrange for the instruction of advanced pupils in a high 
school of an incorporated district or an academy within the town, or with high schools 
or academies of other towns within or without the state." If a town does not main- 
tain a high school of the first class (four years), the board must provide and arrange 
for the instruction of the advanced pupils of the town in other schools for the re- 
maining years necessary to complete the course or courses of study in a high school 
of the first class. Special state aid is provided under certain conditions to towns 
paying tuition for advanced instruction. 

The chief source of support for the elementary and secondary schools of the town 
is through a local tax of not less than twenty per cent of the grand list. 

The grand lists of the 268 towns and other school tax units for 1912 ranged from 
$342 to $167,588; the median was about $4500, that is, half paid more and half paid 
less than this amount.' 

The per cent of tax levy in the 268 towns and school tax units for which reports 
were made for 1912 ranged from 20 to 140 per cent of their grand lists. The median 
was about 65 per cent.' 

Tlie per capita yield of the local tax levy in the several towns and taxing units 
for 1912, on the basis of the number of census children^ between five and seventeen 
years inclusive, i-anged from $5.50 to $83.91. The median local tax yield for school 
purposes was about $16.' 

Total Resources for Elementary and Secondary Education 
For the fiscal year 1912 the amounts from the principal sources of operating revenue 



* Details are given in Part IIL 

^ The calculation is based on the school census rather than on the average daily attendance, because the latter, 

although a better basis, is made complicated and uncertain by pupils living in one tovpn and attending school In 

another. 



144 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 



Local tax 


$1,296,564 


State tax 


165,080 


Permanent School Fund 


51,244 


Special state aids 


71,325 


Miscellaneous, including tuitions, school lands, bequests, etc. 


88,683 


Totai 


11,672,896 



Broadly speaking, out of every dollar available for the maintenance of the ele- 
mentary and secondary schools, in the several town and school areas, 77.5 cents comes 
from local taxation; 10 cents from the state school tax; 3 cents from the perma- 
nent school fund ; 4.2 cents from special aids granted by the state ; and 5.3 cents from 
miscellaneous sources. 



Expenditures for Elementary and Secondary Schools 
A financial comparison between the public school system of 1892 and the school 
system of two decades later makes possible certain interesting and illuminating con- 
clusions. The number of pupils enrolled in 1892 and 1912 was substantially the same, 
approximately 65,000. The average daily attendance increased during this period 
from 45,057' to 52,160, or nearly 16 per cent. The total expenditures for the mainte- 
nance of elementary and secondary schools during the fiscal year 1892 were reported 
as $743,543, of which amount $549,980, or about 74 per cent, went for teachers' sala- 
ries. In 1912 the expenditures for current expenses amounted to $1,672,709, of which 
$968,882, or about 58 per cent, went for teachers' salaries. To view the situation from 
another angle, while the total expenditures have increased about 125 per cent dur- 
ing the past twenty years, the amount expended for teachers' salaries has been raised 
only about 76 per cent. The average cost per pupil in daily attendance rose from 
$16.50 in 1892 to nearly $24 in 1912, an increase of nearly 50 per cent. During this 
time the potential resources, that is, the taxable property, increased about 30 per cent 
—the grand list of the state being $1,600,000 for 1892^ and $2,193,091 for 1912. 

Direct State Support and Educational Standards 
A large number of comparisons similar in general character to those just made 
might be presented as indicative of the effort being put forth by the state and the 
towns to support the public schools. It is essential, however, not to obscure the 
remaining fact that the state needs yet to provide both for a greater equalization of 
the burden of school support among the communities of the state and for a further 

' The average daily attendance for 1882 was reported as 47,772. 

^ Estimated on the number of polls, and the value of real and personal property as given in the Report of the Spe- 
cial Commission on Taxation of Vermont, 1S08. 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 145 

enlargement of the funds to be used for the elementary and secondary schools, if these 
schools are to be conducted on the high level requisite for the progressive welfare 
of the state. The urgencies of the educational situation revealed in the portions of 
this report dealing with the niral and the secondary schools are such that additional 
expenditures on the part of the state must be resolutely faced. It is not a question of 
how much Vermont is expending per capita. It is a question of developing a school 
system equal to the needs of its people. 

The development of the state's school system during the past twenty years has 
already been greatly stimulated by direct state subsidies. The proportion of the total 
expense for the maintenance of the elementary and secondary schools borne directly 
by the state was considerably increased during the decade 1902-12. The increase of 
the state school tax from five per cent to eight per cent in 1900, the grants of state 
aid for transpoi-tation and board of pupils, for advanced instruction and for union 
supervision, and the establishment of the permanent public school fund are impor- 
tant items of this increased proportion. 

In the granting of state aid to the lower schools two distinct ends are now gener- 
ally recognized by American states: (1) to equalize the resources of local communi- 
ties with which to meet definite educational needs, and (2) to stimulate local commu- 
nities to further educational effort. Vermont's plan of apportioning state funds seeks 
to accomplish both of these ends. 

The necessities of equalization are exhibited by the tables that have been cited, 
showing the varying amounts, among the different towns, of money raised per census 
child between the ages of five and seventeen and the varying percentages of the grand 
list raised for school purposes. 

In 1912, 772 schools, or practically one-third of the entire number, had 15 pupils 
or less. With this condition, all calculations of expense based upon the pupil are un- 
sound, even though showing a per capita cost that is equal to or above that of other 
to^vns or states. The principal item of school cost is the salary of the teacher. A nor- 
mal expenditure per pupil in small schools means a low salary level for the teachers. 
This combination of many small schools with a high average cost per pupil explains 
Vermont's rank of fourteenth among the states of the Union in the average annual 
expense per child as compai'ed with her rank of forty-third in the average annual sal- 
ary of teachers.^ It seems clear that the general standard of the elementary schools of 
the state will be raised only through an enlargement of the state's direct support of 
these smaller schools, coupled with an intelligent and expert educational oversight on 
the part of the state. The inauguration of an administrative system of efficient type 
will reduce certain expenses, but in the long man the state must spend more money to 
obtain a steadily improved system of schools. No other investment that the state can 
make will return so great a profit. 



146 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Principle upon which State School Funds should be distributed 
The practice recently and most widely followed in the distribution of state funds 
to local communities has had in view solely the justice of the distribution, and has 
therefore based its award upon the school census or upon some form of school attend- 
ance. The plan at present in operation in Vermont makes its major grant depend sim- 
ply on the number of legal schools, without regard to their size, or efficiency, or the 
wealth of the community that maintains them. Both of these plans are characteristic 
of the period when the state confided everything in education to the varying discretion 
of the towns, a period when the state itself had no definite educational policy. This 
has changed; the state has become educationally conscious, intelligent, and ambitious. 
The recommendations of this report contemplate for Vermont a strong, well-central- 
ized and efficient state control in education. It is obvious that with the introduction of 
such educational leadership the power of state funds must be put behind the policies 
to be inaugurated. Hereafter money should no longer be granted on a per capita, or per 
school, or other merely numerical basis. State aid, when administered by the advice 
of an informed and vigorous central authority, should invariably be granted in such 
a manner as to stimulate and reward local effort which is harmonious with state poli- 
cies. Hence in Vermont, what assistance the state can give should go for better trained 
and better paid rural school teachers, for better buildings, for persistent and care- 
ful consolidation, and for the revision of the cumculum in the interests of domestic 
science, manual training, and agriculture. Details of such measures must, of course, 
rest with the educational officers themselves to elaborate; it is sufficient at this point 
to urge that the chief tool for realizing their success should be made as responsive 
as possible to their designs. 

It is not possible without a more intensive study of the separate towns and com- 
munities to outline a statement of a permanent financial policy for the future as 
between state support and local support of elementary and secondary schools. Such 
a policy must be worked out gradually by the board of education as the reorganiza- 
tion of theschool system proceeds. State support, like all other outside support offered 
to a community, has its dangers no less than its advantages. It would be a serious mis- 
fortune to lift the entire burden of school support from the community. It is a ques- 
tion of judgment as to how far a state can go in helping local schools in justice to 
its other obligations, and how far such aid stimulates instead of weakening local sense 
of responsibility. 

In another section attention is called to the present somewhat loose methods of ac- 
counting and paying school bills, including the payment of teachers' salaries. So long 
as collections and payments depend upon two distinct sources, — state and local, — 
it is not easy to introduce a uniform, simple, and prompt method of accounting 
a!id payment. But the solution of this question and the still more pressing one of 
better salaries for teachers can be worked out only by the cooperation of the state 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 147 

supervising agency, with the town authorities. With the stimulus of state aid and 
of state supervision, it will be entirely possible to bring state and local authorities 
to a uniform practice. 



IX 

THE REORGANIZATION OF THE AGENCIES FOR 

ADMINISTRATION 

A STUDY of the chief historical stages in the educational evolution of the state for 
the past one hundred years furnishes justification for the statement that Vermont has 
never completely assumed a definite constructive responsibility for the progressive 
development of the public school system; has never clearly regarded this system as an 
institution and instrumentality of the commonwealth. This may be accounted as a 
natural result of a combination of influences. Among these are the sturdiness and in- 
dependence of local communities under the characteristic New England scheme of gov- 
ernment, the comparative isolation of the several principal geographic sections of the 
state from one another, and the absence of any dominating city centres of population. 

This absence of a positive state policy explains in large measure the lack of a proper 
state machinery for the administration, supervision, and inspection of the common 
schools and other public educational institutions. 

The establishment of the first State Board of Commissioners for Common Schools 
in 1827 and its abolition in 1833; the creation of the office of State Superintendent 
of Common Schools in 1845; the refusal of the General Assembly to appoint a State 
Superintendent in 1851 and the resulting absence of any state supervision for the fol- 
lowing five years ; the creation of a State Board of Education in 1856, which continued 
until 1874', when the oflSce of the State Superintendent was reestablished; the cre- 
ation of another State Board of Education in 1908 as the successor of a Board of 
Normal School Commissioners created in 1898; and the passage by the legislature 
of 1912-13 of the act creating the present State Board of Education with its partial 
and ambiguous authority over the several parts of the educational system, — make 
clear the lack of a well-planned, continuous educational policy. 

A casual examination of the general scheme of the state's government of the sys- 
tem of education, and of the constitution and powers and duties of the several boards 
and officers composing this educational govemment, reveals immediately a situation 
favorable to discontinuity of organization and to waste in operation. 

A marked general tendency of the past two decades has been the development 
throughout our American states of the type of school government whereby an increas- 
ing authority and responsibility are centred in state boards and officers. This tendency 
is undoubtedly a consequence of the wider recognition of the fundamental social 
policy that public education, in order to provide an equitable distribution of educa- 
tional opportunities, must be assumed by the state rather than by local governmental 
units, — district, town, county, and city. The recognition of this larger state responsi- 
bility results in the exercise of a large amount of control directly by the state. This 
trend whereby the influence of the state in edut^ation is enlarged and vitalized is 



REORGANIZATION OF AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 149 

customarily expressed by the phrase, " centralization of state control." The first and 
most evident result of this centralizing movement has been the erection of a new 
form of state machinery for the oversight of public educational activities, especially 
as regards elementary, secondary, special, and supplementary schools. This organi- 
zation is not intended to take away the rights of local communities to govern their 
own schools, nor to weaken their responsibility for school support. It aims simply 
to provide, along with moderate financial aid, a system of scrutiny and supervision 
that shall make for a wider school opportunity, more uniform conditions, and free- 
dom from some of the more objectionable local limitations. The state is the only 
agency that can undertake this function. 

The former widely adopted plan of placing the common school system of the state 
under the general direction of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, elected by 
popular vote or chosen by the legislature, is being replaced by a plan that assigns the 
public school organization of the state to the general control of a small board or com- 
mission appointed by the governor, with or without legislative confirmation. Such 
a board or commission is usually designated as "The State Board of Education." 
Recent examples of such boards, newly constituted or reorganized, are to be found 
in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Idaho, New Jersey, and elsewhere. The 
modern state board of education emliodies the fundamental governmental principle 
of the immediate suzerainty of the state over the public school. As to the essential 
constitution and internal organization of the centralized state board of education, the 
following general principle is now accepted : It is a representative board of laymen, few 
in number, receiving no compensation, appointed and constituted in a manner pro- 
viding for responsibility of performance and securing continuity of state educational 
policy. 

The State Board of Education is the active deputy of the people of the whole state. 
It is therefore composed of laymen rather than of those professionally engaged in 
the educational service, or of those officially connected with other branches of state 
government. Such a board will have in its membership no representatives of par- 
ticular educational institutions or other special interests. Neither will it have any 
ejc-qfficio members. 

On the basis of the best American administrative experience, in education as well 
as in other governmental departments, it has come to be generally agreed that this 
board should consist of few members. A board of five is perhaps sufficiently large and 
representative. No compensation is paid for service, other than reimbursement for ne- 
cessary traveling or other expenses. The members of this state board are appointed by 
the governor of the state for fairly long overlapping terms, and in a way that brings 
about the expiration of the term of but one member each year. Thus, if the boai'd is 
composed of five members, one member will be appointed each year for a tei'm of five 
years. Appointments directly by the governor fix responsibility. The fairly long over- 
lapping term of office contributes to the development of a consistent and progressive 



150 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

school policy. All appointments should be made solely with reference to ability to 
serve the larger interests of the entire people of the state. Neither residence, party 
affiliation, incidental or temporary prominence, religion, race, sex, or specific occu- 
pation should be determining qualifications. Such a board will embody the best and 
highest form of disinterested personal sei'vice. Membership will be considered by 
the people of the state as evidence of conspicuous capacity for civic usefulness. As 
a safeguard for the character of the board and for the continued effectiveness of its 
performances, the members should be subject to removal by the governor, either 
with or without legislative concuirence, for gross innnorality, malfeasance in office, 
incompetency, or neglect of responsibility. 

Thus organized, the State Board of Education will fulfil its responsibility to the 
educational system of the state, working in accordance with the following general 
principles : 

Subject to the general provisions of law, there will be delegated to the board the 
care and oversight of the entire public school system of the state. The actual admin- 
istration, supervision, and inspection will be entrusted to executive officers selected 
by the board.^ 

The Board of Education should not itself, individually or collectively through 
committees of its members, attempt to perform executive functions. Within the de- 
fined statutory limits it should aim to provide ways and means to can'v out the public 
educational policy determined by the legislature. The actual execution of these poli- 
cies belongs to the expert trained officers of the board, in particular the commissioner 
of education, the chief of these officers, with whom fii-st responsibility rests. In addi- 
tion to this chief executive officer there ought to be a sufficient number of assistant 
commissioners, supervisors, and inspectors properly to care for the state's share of 
responsibility for the conduct and development of the schools. Tlie selection of these 
executive officers represents the most important function of this board. 

The commissioner should be a man of such breadth of education, of such special 
training, of such varied educational experience, and with such a record of successful 
performance, as will entitle him to be entrusted with the important responsibilities of 
the board. He should be selected without reference to his residence within the state, 
should be given an indefinite term of office, and should be subject to dismissal onlv 
upon a two-thirds vote of the entire membership of the board. There should be at- 
tached to the office a salary to be determined by the board, of sufficient size to attract 

* The question whether such a board should exercise control of the hiprher educational institutions of the state is 
one that is not here taken up. Such control miglit be so exercised as to interfere with the free development of col- 
leges and universities. On the other hand, the rivalries and wasteful duplications of educational effort, with the 
attending political complications which come from the lack of such uniform administrations, are notorious, and 
cannot in the long run fail to bring upon these institutions unpleasant consequences. The state of Idaho is just en- 
tering upon such an administration of its whole system of public education. The commissioner of education, under 
the State Board, is the head of the whole system of schools, including the Sbite University. In the case of the state 
of Vermont the absence of any state institution of higher learning simplifies its problem of educational administra- 
tion. The State Agricultural College, supported by funds furnished the slate by the general government, has been 
placed by the state under the control of a board organized as described in another section. 



REORGANIZATION OF AGENCIES FOR ADMINISTRATION 151 

and retain a skilful and successful man. The new state of Idaho, with a population 
smaller than that of Vermont scattered over an area nine times as large, pays its 
commissioner of education $6000. 

The success of the educational admiuLstration wiU depend no less on the personnel 
of the board than on the abilities of the chief executive officer. Hitherto American 
governmental boards have not reached a high order of efficiency. We are now devel- 
oping in larger numbers the type of man adapted for the duties of trustee member- 
ship, — a man who, while not an educational expert, has an intelligent interest in edu- 
cation, and is ready to give time and thought to the problems of the board and to 
bring to the aid of the executive officers a sound judgment and a mind keenly inter- 
ested. The members of such boards have generally tended to fall into one of two errors, 
— either to become dummy directors, leaving the entire responsibility with the exe- 
cutive, or else to go to the other extreme and desire to become themselves executives. 
The business of such a board is to govern, not to administer. To fill such a place on 
a board of education is to render to the state service of the highest order. 

Acting through its officers, the Board of Education ought to have general control of 
the entire educational system of the state. This will include not alone the elementary 
and secondaiy schools, vocational schools, and any school established for the train- 
ing of teachers, but also schools for the training of special classes, the educational 
departments of charitable and penal institutions, and all supplementary educational 
activities, including those relating to libraries, which are properly a part of the state 
educational system. 

Such oversight will involve the estimation and preparation of a budget for educa- 
tional expenses, the enforcement of laws relating to schools and other institutions of 
learning, the classification and unification of the public schools, the establishment 
of uniform records and reports, the determination of the qualifications of teachers 
and their certification for the elementary, secondary, and special schools, and the 
recognition of certificates and diplomas from other states. The board should, as the 
supervisor of the expenditure of all state money for educational purposes, inspect 
all institutions and report upon their use of such funds. 

The board in cooperation with the state board of health should establish standards 
for the construction, arrangement, and sanitary equipment of school buildings and 
school sites; and should direct the medical inspection and study of public health as 
far as the schools are concerned. Such a program ought to include also a systematic 
effort to inform the people of the whole state as to the oppoi'tunities of their owii 
schools. A serious defect of the present situation lies in the fact that it is not easy for 
the average parent to obtain disinterested educational advice concerning his children, 
or unprejudiced information concerning the nearby agencies of education. 

The necessity for such a boai-d has already been fully realized by those who have 
given serious thought to the educational problems of the state. The creation of the 
existing board of education came as a result of this conviction, and its creation was 



152 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

a long step in the direction of better organization and a clearer differentiation of 
duties. The existing board is defective, however, particularly in the restricted author- 
ity that is given to it and in its ambiguous relation to the superintendent of edu- 
cation. Its reorganization in accordance with the following recommendations would 
be the necessary initial step for the establishment of a state system of education 
adapted to the needs of all the people of the state. A rightly constituted board with 
competent experts will step by step revise the curriculum of the elementary and 
secondary schools, provide facilities for the training of teachers, and meet the other 
problems of state education as they arise. 

It is reconnnended, therefore, that the existing state board of education be reorgan- 
ized so as to provide for a board of five members to be appointed by the governor, one 
member to l>e appointed each year for a term of five years; that this board have general 
control of the entire educational system of the state ; that the powers and duties 
now belonging to the present Boai'd of Education, to the Trustees of the Permanent 
School Fund, to the Trustees of the State Schools of Agriculture, to the Board of 
Trustees of the State School for Feeble Minded, to the Commissioner of the Deaf, 
Blind, Idiotic, Feeble-Minded Children of Indigent Parents, and the State Board of 
Penal Institutions, in so far as the Industrial School is concerned, be transferred to 
this board ; that the chief executive officer of the board be a commissioner of education 
to be chosen by the board under such conditions and at such compensation as shall 
guarantee the service of a progressive educational leader; that provision be made 
for the appointment of not less than four dii-ectors or deputy commissioners, — one 
for rural schools, one for secondary schools, one for vocational schools (including 
agriculture), and one for extension activities. In addition there should be provided 
in the appropriation for the state board of education a sum of money to cover the 
expenses of the board, the pay of assistants and of clerks in the office of the com- 
missioner of education, and the necessary traveling expenses. Owing to the impossibil- 
ity of correctly estimating all of these items in advance, it would be of great advan- 
tage, and ultimately in the direction of economy and efficiency, if in addition to the 
sums set aside for the salaries of the commissioner and his deputies a lump sum were 
for the first two years placed at the disposal of the board, to be accounted for sub- 
sequently in the form of an itemized budget. 



X 

THE VERMONT COLLEGES AND THEIR RELATIONS 
TO THE STATE 

The higher institutions of Vermont have been studied systematically by the officers 
of the Foundation for some years. To supplement the knowledge thus gained, each of 
the institutions was visited by several members of the enquiry staff, and all of the 
printed and other records relating to their work were carefully examined. 

There are in Vermont four chartered colleges of higher education — the University 
of Vermont, MiddJebury College, Norwich University, and St.MichaeFs Roman Cath- 
olic College at Burlington. The first thi-ee receive state subsidies; the last has not 
hitherto shared in the state's bounty. 

The descriptions of the University of Vermont, Middlebury College, and Norwich 
University that follow are necessarily founded upon the study of certain characteris- 
tics that go to make up institutions of learning. It is not possible to separate our com- 
plex institutions of higher education into sharply defined classes. It is not possible to 
analyze and compare those indefinable moral and intellectual qualities that make up 
the atmosphere of a school. No scrutiny could differentiate the devotion and the skill of 
a teacher in one institution from that of a teacher in another institution. In a very real 
sense it is impossible to compare institutions in their intellectual and spiritual life. 

On the other hand, there are certain definite marks of sincere and efficient college 
work upon which the student of education may safely lay his hand and use as a means 
of comparison. For example, an institution that enforces its entrance requirements 
loosely and carelessly is not likely to do college work of a high order. The retention 
in the college body of a considerable proportion of unfit students means a sacrifice 
of the interests of the larger body of the well prepared. It is not possible to teach 
certain subjects like chemistry or physics or biology without laboratory equipment. 
It may be fairly assumed that a college faculty can be gauged in some degree from 
the extent and breadth of their preparation for their work. The skill and ability with 
which the facilities of libraries and laboratories and of lecture rooms are used are all 
definite factors that go to make up the ability of a college to do its work, and all of 
these things may be estimated fairly accurately by an experienced student of educa- 
tion, and compared with a fair standard of college work as determined by the expe- 
rience of institutions throughout the whole country. In a very real sense the income 
of an institution is a just measure of its ability. This does not mean that an institu- 
tion with a small income may not be quite as good in its own field as an institution 
of larger income, but it is perfectly clear that the institution which with a small 
income attempts to spread its instruction over the whole field of education must 
be far less efficient than the institution that devotes its resoui'ces conscientiously and 
intelligently to a definite field of instruction. 



154 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The descriptions of the three institutions under consideration, therefore, deal in the 
main with these tangible evidences of college administration and college work. 

These institutions have much in common in so far as the atmosphere of the college 
life is concerned, the characteristics of the students, and their attitude toward study. 
In all three institutions there are strong tendencies toward earnest work, in all tliree 
a large proportion of the students are young people who come from families of 
modest means, in all a considerable number of the students earn at least a part of the 
expense of college tuition. 

The atmosphere of the student life in each of the tliree institutions is earnest. The 
chief differences that arise grow out of the differences in the location and resources 
of the institutions. In the matter of location the University of Vermont has a great 
advantage. Burlington is an admirable place for the development of a strong col- 
lege or a university of modest scope. Nowhere else in the state can a student obtain 
so many outside sources of improvement and cultivation as here. What the student 
gains at Middlebury or at Norwich in intellectual or in social improvement must 
come from the institutions themselves, and whatever may be the advantages of the 
concentration attained in a small and isolated town, the difficulties of retaining teach- 
ers in such a situation, removed as they ai-e from facilities for their own study, must 
always present problems and place limitations upon the work of these institutions. 
If Vermont is to have several institutions of learning, it is perhaps on the whole for- 
tunate that they should present contrasting types. There are forms of instruction 
and there are students for whom the small village is best suited. The desirable thing 
is that each institution should devote itself to those fields of instruction that are 
best suited to its own environment. A differentiation of work, an independent effort 
to deal with the educational problems, is the essential thing at present. 

A notable circumstance in the attendance of these colleges arises out of the fact 
that so large a proportion of the students come from other states. In 1912-13, at the 
University of Vermont, 62 per cent of the students were from Vermont ; at Middle- 
bury, 47 per cent; at Norwich, 42 per cent. Of 1026 students attending the three 
institutions nearly one-half were from other states. In the medical school only 32 
per cent were Vermonters. 

The University of Vermont was chartered in 1791, Middlebury College in 1800, and 
Norwich University in 1834. In chartering these institutions the state of Vermont 
assumed certain powers over them, and for a number of years it has been appropri- 
ating to each sums of money. The relations that exist between the state and these 
institutions are somewhat anomalous, corresponding neither to the position of the 
ordinary New England college supported out of endowment, nor to the state univer- 
sity supported and governed entirely by the state. The nature of the relation in each 
institution is briefly described below. 

In the original charter of the University of Vermont it is provided that the trus- 
tees, when required by the legislature of the state, shall lay before that body a state- 



RELATIONS OF VERMONT COLLEGES TO THE STATE 155 

ment of " all appropriations by them made and the by-laws, rules and regulations 
for the government of said institution for their examination, approbation, and revi- 
sion." The control here given to the state is both negative and affirmative. The power 
of " examination, approbation, and revision" concerning the by-laws, rules, and regu- 
lations is an academic right that the legislature is scarcely likely to exercise, but such 
a power over all appropriations is a control that would seem almost unlimited if the 
legislature decided to exercise it. By an Act of November 6, 1865, the University of 
Vermont as created by an Act of November 3, 1791, was with its consent merged into 
a new corporation entitled "The University of Vermont and State Agricultural Col- 
lege," to which new corporation was transferred all of the property of the former 
University of Vermont, and to which was granted the income accruing from the pro- 
ceeds of the sale of the land granted to the state of Vermont by the government of 
the United States under the Act of July 2, 1862. The corporation thus created is the 
one existing to-day. It is composed of twenty trustees, nine of whom were elected 
in the first instance by the trustees of the original University of Vermont, vacancies 
in this number of nine trustees being filled by their survivors. Nine trustees are 
elected by the legislature of Vermont for definite terms. The governor of Vermont is 
an ejc-officio member, and the president of the University of Vermont and State Agri- 
cultural CoUege, who is elected by the other nineteen trustees, is also an ex-officio 
member. This coiporation, owning absolutely the property of the educational insti- 
tution known as the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is thus 
technically a corporation controlled by the state, since of the twenty trustees ten are 
state officials and the twentieth trustee is elected by the body of nineteen in which 
the state appointees are in the majority. Tliis technical control, however, is very dif- 
ferent from that which is exercised over the representative state universities. In them 
the institution is controlled by a board of regents, all of whose members are either 
appointed by the governor (in 31 states), or elected (in 8 states) by the people, the 
legislature, or the state board of education. Under the conditions that now exist, the 
actual control of the University of Vermont is admittedly and will always remain 
in the hands of self-peipetuating tiiistees. 

Middlebury College, although chartered after the University of Vennont, was the 
first to begin instruction. Its charter entrusts to the president and fellows the "gov- 
ernment, care and management of the college," and provides that " all laws, rules 
and ordinances for the instruction and education of students and ordering, governing, 
ruling and managing the said college shall be laid before the legislature of this state 
as often as required and may also be repealed or disallowed by the said legislature 
when they think proper." While the state of Vermont, therefore, does not appoint the 
trustees of Middlebury, it has a measure of control over the college, consisting of 
a veto power over general college regulations. Thus, for example, the fixing of a gen- 
eral rate of tuition for all students, or the appropriation of a fixed ratio of the college 
income for specific purposes, would appear to be within the power of the legislature. 



156 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Being, however, solely a negative control, this power has never in the past been ex- 
ercised, and it would be difficult to exercise it in the future in such a way as to form 
any actual working control. While, therefore, the charter of Middlebury College gives 
to the legislature a certain veto power with regard to the college regulations, this 
power is negligible as a practical matter of administration. 

The charter of Norwich University goes somewhat further in the direction of state 
supervision than the charter of Middlebury College, but not so far as that of the 
University of Vermont. It is provided in the charter of Norwich University, like that 
of the University of Vermont, that the college " laws, rules and regulations shall be 
laid before the legislature of this state whenever required by that body and may by 
them be disallowed, altered or repealed." On November 16, 1898, an act was ap- 
proved by the legislature which provides for still further supervision on the part of 
the state, through a board of visitors, made up of the superintendent of education 
of Vermont ex officio and four other visitors appointed biennially by the governor 
of Vermont by and with the advice and consent of the senate. The duties of the 
board of visitors were defined to be "to visit and inspect said university at such times 
as they see fit and to report the result of such inspection and the manner of the ex- 
penditure of the money herein appropriated to the Governor." The legislature further 
enacted on November 29, 1898, a statute to the effect that " Norwich University is 
hereby recognized as the military college of the state of Vermont and its faculty are 
hereby given local rank as follows: assistant professors the rank of second lieutenant," 
etc. While the legislature thus declared Norwich University to be the military col- 
lege of the state of Vermont, this declaration added nothing to the slight and unex- 
ercised powers of educational supervision contained in the charter, so that the status 
of Norwich University since that act is that of an institution whose property is con- 
trolled entirely by its own self-perpetuating boai'd of trustees, with an ill-defined 
recognition on the part of the state as its military college, subject to a perfunctory 
state inspection of the expenditure of state moneys. 

This brief statement of the legal relations of the three colleges to the state of Ver- 
mont makes clear the fact that none of them is a state institution in the strict and 
complete or even in the ordinary sense of that term. Each is practically governed 
by its own board, and such measure of state control as has been given by amendments 
of the original charter or by new acts has looked in the direction of establishing just 
enough control to justify appropriations. While the University of Vermont has a 
slight, technical majority of state representatives upon its board of trustees, the fact 
still remains that in the practical working of administration all three institutions 
have been governed and will continue to be governed by boards whose authority is 
practically directed by self-perpetuating trustees. While the state has the right, 
through the legislature, to assume a larger measure of control over any one of the 
institutions, the method of doing this under the present charters and acts would be 



RELATIONS OF VERMONT COLLEGES TO THE STATE 157 

so cumbersome and difficult that the possession of this power is rather the shadow 
of control than control itself. 

The three institutions stand to-day upon practically a common basis so far as state 
control is concerned. The question that really faces those charged with the state gov- 
ernment is not what measure of control the state may exercise under these somewhat 
ambiguous measures, but rather what work in higher education the state ought to 
support, if any; and if it ought to support such work, in what institutions may it 
be conducted to the best advantage of all of the people of the state "^ 



XI 
THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 

The University of Vermont, chartered in 1791, has its seat in the city of Burlington, 
the largest city in the state and in many ways the one best suited for a university 
town. Burlington is the chief port on Lake Champlain, and the general character of 
the surrounding country attracts many summer residents. The university itself stands 
upon a plateau some three hundred feet above the lake, in the highest part of the city. 

In 1865 the State Agricultural College was combined with the university under 
the title of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, each institu- 
tion continuing nine of its trustees, the legislature electing those of the agricultural 
college for six-year terms, those of the university being self-perpetuating. The presi- 
dent, who is an ex-officio member, has no vote. The constitution of this board has 
been referred to in a previous paragraph. The combined board is required under the 
law to make an annual report to the legislature, althougli this is a formality that is 
not observed. The legislature may also appoint a board of visitors, a right of which 
the state does not avail itself. The present board includes the governor of Massachu- 
setts, who is an alumnus, and three other members from outside the state. The trus- 
tees meet twice a year, once at Commencement and once in October. The executive 
committee, consisting of members near Burlington, represents the university and col- 
lege of agriculture members equally and meets once a month. The finance committee, 
all being university members, is composed of two Burlington men, a well-known New 
York alumnus, and the treasurer, who is not a member of the board. The actual pro- 
ceedings of the board are but slightly affected by the participation of state-appointed 
trustees. 

The college buildings i-epresent variations in structure corresponding to their age. 
The old college, knovvii as "The Old Mill," valued at $100,000, was built in 1801. It 
was rebuilt in 1825, when Lafayette laid the corner-stone. It provides at present old 
and rather inadequate dormitories, lecture rooms, offices, and a chapel. The library, 
the gift of Fi'ederick Billings, an alumnus, in 1885, cost S175,000, and was the last 
work of H. H. Richardson. A redbrick building, the Williams Science Hall, the gift 
of Dr. Edward H. ^Villiams, cost $250,000, and is an adequate, fire-proof laboratory 
building. The mechanical engineering buildings, erected in 1891 at a cost of $25,000, 
are suited to their purpose, but small and crowded. Converse Hall, of marble, was 
erected in 1891 from a gift of $150,000 by John H. Converse of the class of 1861, 
and is a good, well-kept men's dormitor}', but inconveniently distant from the other 
buildings. The gymnasium and drill hall, built in 1901 at a cost of $-10,000, is large 
and fairly equipped. The red brick and terra-cotta medical building, costing $150,000 
and built in 1903, is a good modern structure. Morrill Hall, provided by the state 
in 1901 and completed in 1907 at a cost of $60,000, otters fair facilities for the work 
of the Experiment Station. Small, but good greenhouses, costing $5000, are near by. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 159 

Grassmount, the dignified mansion of Governor Van Ness, is used as a residence for 
women, some of whom are also housed in Howard Hall, the former home of General 
O. O. Howard. There is a commodious president's house and a temporary connnons 
for men. The United States Weather Bureau erected an observatory adjoining the 
campus in 1906. 

The endowment approximates $1,000,000, half of which has been acquired in the 
last six years. A field secretary of the alumni continues to work for endowment. 

The income of the university, not including the Experiment Station, for 1912-13 
was: 

From students • $73,570.73 

State endowment (1862 land) 8,130.00 

Other endowment 38,427.87 

State appropriation 26,000.00 

United States appropriation 50,000.00 

Miscellaneous 12,433.37 

Total $208,561.97 

The expenditure for the same year was : 

For equipment $12,390.90 

Administration 32,291.44 

Current expense 39,682.43 

Instruction 109,488.69 
Library 

Books $2,755.04 

Service 3,342.64 6,097.68 

Total $199,951.14 

All of the thirty state scholarships of $80 each were awarded during the year. There 
are also ninety university scholarships and a scholarship fund. Until recently agricul- 
tural students from Vermont paid no tuition. They now have free tuition up to $80. 
The total cost to the student ranges for men from $275 to $4)75 a year; for women 
from $340 to $400, as follows: 



Tuition, Agr., Arts, Eng. 


$110.00 Med. 


$125.00 


$110.00 $110.00 


Room 
Board 


15.00 to 
108.00 to 


75.00 
190.00 


- 180.00 to 200.00 


Fees 


12.50 to 


40.00 


10.50 to 38.00 


Miscellaneous 


30.00 to 


55.00 


30.00 to 50.00 



The university includes the following departments : * 

1. An undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, of which the Department of 
Education is a part; 

2. The College of Engineering; 



160 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

3. The College of Agriculture; 

4. The College of Medicine. 

There is in addition a course in Military Science and Tactics, but the instruction 
in this department forms a portion of the courses offered in all undergraduate courses. 

The university will be best described by dealing with these four principal divi- 
sions separately. 

The matter of entrance requirements is one that may be spoken of as a prelim- 
inary to such differentiation, inasmuch as the entrance requirements for all of these 
divisions, except for the medical school, are the same, and include practically the com- 
pletion of a fuU four-year high school coyrse. 

In making this study the certificates of all students admitted to the university 
in the years 1909, 1910, 1911, and 1912 were carefully checked, and were found com- 
plete and accurate. The record of conditions and their removal at the end of the first 
year is carefully looked after. The university has been a member of the New England 
College Examination Board since 1907-08, students being examined in all subjects 
in which they are not certified according to the high standards of this board. While 
this reduces to some extent the attendance in the university, there can be no question 
that the relation has brought about a great improvement in the student body, and 
that the effect of this well-administered standard upon the secondary schools of the 
state has been of enormous advantage. The administration of the entrance require- 
ments has been fair and strict. 

The requirements for promotion and graduation are likewise well administered. 
The class of 1913 in arts, agriculture, and engineering entered 120 in 1909. Eighty- 
two withdrew and thirteen were added during the course, leaving a graduating class 
of fifty -one. Of those who entered with advanced standing, five had left the univer- 
sity and returned; six came from other well-known institutions; two entered from 
other classes. Of those who withdrew, half were conditioned, one-fourth were dropped 
by the university, and one-fourth lacked the money to continue. With the exception 
that the degree of master of arts is conferred for non-resident work, the requirements 
for degrees are excellent. 

The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences and of the Engineering School 
forming the great bulk of those engaged in university teaching, shows the presence of 
men trained in many different parts of the country, although in the engineering faculty 
there is a large proportion of local graduates.' The entire faculty includes forty pro- 
fessors, fifteen associate and assistant professors, nine special professors, and thirty- 
six instructors and assistants. Of this number, however, nine professors, five associate 
and assistant professors, twenty-one instructors and assistants, and the nine special 
professBrs — in all forty-four out of one hundred — are members of the faculty of the 
medical school. 

' The proportion of University of Vermont Kradiiates in the facnities is one-tenth in agriculture, one-fourth in arUi 
and seiences, one-half in eneineerinc. and three-fourtlis in medicine. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 161 

The total salary expenditure is as follows for the year 1912-13: 

Arts and Sciences $70,669.34 

Engineering 14,978.33 

Agriculture 4,377.00 

Medicine 26,928.34 

Experiment Station 18,396.82 

Administration 17,579.17 

The salaries, as university salaries go, are low; and in agriculture and in medicine 
many of the salaries are nominal, professors of agriculture receiving the greater part 
of their salaries from the Experiment Station and professors of medicine serving with- 
out salary. 

The student body of the university, with the exception of the medical school, is 
mainly drawn from Vermont, and the various parts of the state have been well rep- 
resented. The following table gives the attendance for five-year periods : 

Total 

From Vermont 

Proportion from Vermont 

Proportion from Vermont in Medical School 

■Proportion from Vermont excluding Medical School 

Women were first admitted to the university in 1871, the year of President Buck- 
ham's inauguration. The first year there was one woman. In 1881 there were 8; in 1891, 
30; in 1901, 44; in 1911, 75; and in 1912, 98. The women have been admitted to 
class relationships, and a large proportion have won Phi Beta Kappa recognition. In 
1895 the university acquired Grassmount, the former residence of Governor Van Ness, 
as a home for women students, and in 1910 a dean of women was appointed. In 1911 
Howard Hall, an additional dormitory, was purchased, and a third house was rented 
in 1912 for similar purposes. Half of the women students live in these houses. The 
remainder live either at home or with approved families. Four-fifths of the women stu- 
dents are from Vermont, and they deserve a more cordial welcome and recognition on 
the part of the university than they seem to have received. The further acquisition of 
" converted residences for their housing will be inadequate and expensive, and the next 
step should be an adequate dormitory. 

Appi'oximately 60 per cent of the whole student body live in dormitories or fra- 
ternity houses. The remainder live in lodgings — the men where thev like, the women 
in approved houses. About one hundred students take their meals in the commons 
and a considerable portion eat at fraternity houses, of which five are owned and six 
are rented by the chapters. Ten fraternity houses provide lodgings ; four provide board. 
The houses that are owned cost from $10,000 to $25,000 each. The three women's 



toos-s 


1907-8 


1912-13 


508 


497 


559 


340 


348 


350 


67% 


69% 


62% 


43% 


53% 


32% 


82% 


74% 


6J% 



162 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

societies rent rooms. Additional dormitories for both men and women and an ade- 
quate commons are urgently needed. 

Athletic interests are managed by a committee of five faculty members, one senior, 
one junior, and an alumnus. Military drill and instruction are required of all stu- 
dents, except medical students, for three hours a week for two years. This is at present 
admirably administered by a most competent and faithful officer detailed by the 
United States Army. 

In general, the location, equipment, endowment, instructing staff, and student 
body of the University of Vermont represent a dignified and honorable American 
institution of learning. It deserves, and undoubtedly will receive, the generous support 
of its alumnij of whom many occupy positions of honor and responsibility. Of the 
333 graduates of the univei-sity between 1891 and 1900, not including those of the 
medical department, 106 are teachers (33 per cent), 76 engineers (23 per cent), 55 
business men (17 per cent), 31 lawyers (10 per cent), 27 physicians (9 percent), 14 
clergymen (4 per cent), 11 agriculturists (4 per cent). Taking into account the presence 
of a college of agriculture, the small number of graduates engaged in practical agri- 
culture is noticeable. 



The College of Arts and Sciences 
The College of Arts and Sciences offers the ordinary courses pursued in the Ameri- 
can college. Students in arts may pursue one of two curricula of required and elec- 
tive studies. English, mathematics, hygiene, and declamation are required of all stu- 
dents during the freshman year; and military science of all students through the fresh- 
man and sophomore years. The elective studies begin with the sophomore year and are 
administered according to the group system. In science the curricula likewise consist 
of required and elective studies, English, mathematics, modern languages, and decla- 
mation being required of all students through the sophomore and freshman years. 
The degrees that are conferred in these curricula are : bachelor of arts in the classical 
curriculum, in which Greek and Latin are required ; bachelor of philosophy in the liter- 
ary scientific curriculum, in which Latin is retjuired. A curriculum in commerce and 
economics, made up from courses in the College of Arts and Sciences, and leading to 
the degree of bachelor of science in commerce is also offered. There is also a curriculum 
in home economics, made up in part of courses in English, philosophy, mathematics, 
and science, together with certain courses in home economics; and for the completion 
of this curriculum the degree of bachelor of science in home economics is granted. The 
Department of Education, which forms a part of the College of Arts and Sciences, was 
opened in 1908, shortly after the passage of the Nelson amendment, which enabled 
land grant colleges to spend a portion of their funds on the training of teachers of ag- 
riculture and mechanic arts. There were twenty -eight students taking courses in educa- 
tion in 1909-10 and forty-two for the year 1912-13. Six took their major work in edu- 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 163 

cation in 1911-12 and two in 1912-13. Tiiere is a departmental library for the use of 
the department of education, but the opportunity for practice-teaching is absent. Stu- 
dents are admitted to the course in education who have completed the first two years 
in any department of the university, and the instruction that looks more directly 
toward preparation for teaching consists of psychology, principles of instruction, and 
the history of education. In the absence, however, of practice opportunities, there has 
been no reason to wonder at the fact that the course has as yet appealed to few stu- 
dents. Its work, so far as the training for teaching is concerned, is as yet theoretical. 
The strength of the College of Arts and Sciences lies still, as it has for so many 
years, in the general college courses that are offered, in which students obtain a 
grounding in those cultural subjects that make for intellectual training and spir- 
itual development. The offering of courses throughout the undergraduate depart- 
ments of the university is a fair and honest one, although, as in the case of nearly all 
colleges, these courses have been expanded, at least by title, to meet wants that ap- 
parently are not yet felt. Of the 237 courses announced in the catalogue for 1912- 
13, exclusive of medicine, 186 (or 78 per cent) were actually given. Of these, 65 courses 
were for the 109 students in engineering and 31 courses for the 79 students in agri- 
culture, showing an amount of expansion larger, perhaps, than is yet needed. Such an 
expanded offering leads, as in institutions elsewhere, to a very large number of small 
classes. Of the 271 classes held in 1912-13, 37 per cent had from 1 to 9 students, 32 
per cent had from 10 to 19, 19 per cent had from 20 to 39, and 12 percent had over 
40. Thus, more than two-thirds of the courses were below what may be called the 
point of economic efficiency. 



The College of Engineering 
The College of Engineering offers three curricula of study, each covering four 
years: one in civil engineering, one in mechanical engineering, and one in electrical 
engineering. The schedule of studies follows quite closely the schedule of engineer- 
ing courses common among the better schbols of the country, including the basis 
of the physical sciences for the first two years, followed by applications during the 
last two vears. The faculty of the school of engineering is small in numbers for the 
work which it undertakes to do, but the instruction is earnest and sincere, and the 
laboratory facilities are on the whole fair. The department is in serious need of bet- 
ter quarters; the present ones are small, inadequate, and inconvenient. In the char- 
acter of the instruction and the opportunity for laboratory work the school compares 
well with similar schools of engineering in other institutions. In order to do its best 
by the students who come to it, it still needs additional instructors. The pay of the 
professors is very small in comparison with that paid by the better engineering schools, 
and in no way comparable with that which the men so trained can obtain in the prac- 
tice of their professions. 



164 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The State Agricultural College 
The Vermont State Agricultural College is the result of the Act of Congress of 
July 2, 1862, usually named after its author, Justin S. Morrill, for over thirty-five 
years a congressman and United States senator from Vermont. By the "Morrill Act" 
Vermont received 30,000 acres of the public land for each of the senators and each of 
the three representatives to which it was then entitled. The state sold this land for 
a little over ninety cents an acre, and in 1863 attempted to unite the University of 
Vermont, Middlebury College, and Nor\vich University, or any two of them, into 
a single institution, to which should be joined a college of agriculture supported by 
the interest on the $135,500 derived from the sale of the federal land grant. This 
attempt to unite the Vermont colleges having failed, the legislature, in 1864, made 
a provisional organization of a " Vermont Agricultural College," the actual existence 
of the college to Ije dependent upon the subscription by citizens of Vermont of suf- 
ficient funds to supplement the income of the federal grant. As subscriptions were 
not forthcoming and the legislature was apparently not ready to appropriate money 
from the state treasury to agricultural education, the alternative was adopted of es- 
tablishing a state college of agriculture at the University of Vermont. By an act ap- 
proved November 6, 1865, a new corporation was formed, entitled " The University of 
Vermont and State Agricultural College," governed by a board of ti-ustees consist- 
ing of the governor of Vemiont, the president of the university, nine legislative and 
nine self-perpetuating trustees, as already described. To this coi-poration has been 
given the income derived from the Act of 1862 and the animal grants from the United 
States government authorized by subsequent legislation. This annual income, includ- 
ing that for the Experiment Station, now amounts to $88,000. 

The College of Agriculture is thus a con-elative part of the University of Ver- 
mont, with its own faculty and a dean, who is also director of the Experiment Sta- 
tion. The faculty consists of eight professors, three instiiictors, and one non-resident 
lecturer. Professors are paid from $1800 to $2500, instructors about $1200. TheHst 
of students, which for many years numbtered fewer than 50 annually, has increased 
in recent years, and in 1912-13 stood at 79. For half a dozen years the entrance 
requirements have been high school graduation, strictly enforced. There is also a 
special winter course intended for the benefit of those engaged in farming, on which 
the attendance in 1912-13 was 24. 

The equipment consists of Morrill Hall, erected in 1907 from a state appropria- 
tion of $60,000; the laboratories in general chemistry and liiology in the buildings 
devoted to the arts and sciences; a small building, with three greenhouses attached, 
for botany ; and a college farm. The laboratories in Morrill Hall, which are used by 
the Experiment Station, are fairly adequate for the purpose, and are in constant and 
intelligent use. On the other hand, the laboratory e(]uipment for teaching students 
is meagre, and what there is of it is not fully utilized. Most of the teaching is didac- 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 165 

tic. The college farm is used by the staff of the Experiment Station for their experi- 
ments, but as far as the uses of the College of Agriculture go, it might as well not 
exist. The late superintendent, as a member both of the board of trustees of the uni- 
versity and of the board of control of the Experiment Station, was in entire charge 
of the farm. He thus directed the dean-director of the College and Experiment Sta- 
tion instead of being directed by him. Professors cannot use the farm as an aid in 
teaching, students are never seen upon its premises, and the college farm bams, in- 
stead of being a model for well-kept establishments, would probably be condemned 
as unsanitary by any modern board of health. 

The general plan of the professional curricula in agriculture given at the State 
Agricultural College is similar to that in many other agricultural colleges. It con- 
sists of required work during the first two years, and suggests groups of electives for 
the last two years. Three general lines of instruction are indicated: (1) agronomy 
and horticulture, (2) animal husbandry and dairying, (3) the teaching of agriculture. 

The curriculum thus offered is intended for men who are prepared to take a col- 
lege education and to become professional men in agriculture. It has, however, even 
from this point of view, very great educational weaknesses. Thus, the student is given 
a full course in chemistry in the freshman year, and in the sophomore year a full 
course in botany with a somewhat shorter course in zoology. These courses are for 
the purpose of providing him with a solid scientific foundation upon which can be 
erected a superstiiicture of scientific agriculture, but the superstructure afterwards 
erected is not scientific, but empirical. It could be given almost as well without the 
burden of these preliminary scientific courses as with them. The important subject 
of agronomy is restricted to a single half-year elective course given by an instructor; 
the work in horticulture is but slightly related to the preceding biological fomida- 
tions; the animal husbandry, given in the junior year, although preceded bv zoology, 
is admitted to be as frankly empirical as similar courses given in the freshman year 
of other agricultural colleges. 

An agricultural college curriculum that is entirely scientific may be defensible. 
Such courses are given at some of the agricultural schools. On the other hand, courses 
in agriculture that are almost exclusively empirical may be desirable. They appeal 
to a different set of students and seek to attain a different object. The kind of agri- 
cultural college cuiTiculum, however, that seems hard to defend is that illustrated 
in the courses of the University of Vermont, in which the student is carried through 
preliminary scientific training and then given direct agricultural studies that could 
be cairied on as well without this preliminary scientific requirement. 

Not only are the technical agricultural courses inadequately adjusted to the sci- 
entific work that has preceded them, but there is a great lack of agricultural work, 
whether given upon a scientific basis or upon an empirical basis. The student who 
elects the course in agronomy and horticulture has in agronomy, in his sophomore 
year, one full semester course in soils and soil management, and for one semester a one- 



166 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

hour course in grasses and forage plants. In his junior year he can take for one semester 
a three-hour course in field crops, but he may elect instead plant pathology. This is 
absolutely all the work the course in agronomy offers to a student who specializes in 
this subject at the Agricultural College. It would not be regarded as at all sufficient 
at most colleges of agriculture. 

The absence of coordination between the two parts of the agricultural college cur- 
ricidum indicates that the University of Vermont has not yet seriously set itself to 
consider what function its Agricultural College can perform. If it becomes a school 
for elementary instruction in agriculture, it will not need the fundamental sciences 
in its curriculum; if it is to be an institution for training in scientific agriculture, 
it is necessai-y not only to have these fundamental sciences, but also to make its ag- 
ricultural courses strictly technical, and to offer the opportunity of a good library of 
technical agricultural literature. In the Agricultural College as now conducted one 
sees these two divergent aims of agricultural education combined in such a way as to 
fulfil neither purpose well. By requiring the four-year high school standard for admis- 
sion and by prescribing the fundamental sciences in the first two years, the school 
cuts itself off from serving the farm boy who wishes trade instruction in order to 
return to work on the farm. By making its agricultural courses empirical rather than 
technical, it has not served well those students who wish thorough scientific training 
in modem agriculture. 

There is also a striking absence of the more familiar agricultural courses. For ex- 
ample, there is no work in entomology beyond an attempt on the part of the professor 
of zoology in the College of Arts and Sciences to make his introductory course cover 
as much entomology as possible. If the student is to receive a good fundamental 
training in zoiilogy, which is essential to the scientific study of technical agriculture, 
it is impossible in this course to make entomology anything beyond a bare outline. 

There is also no course at Vermont in agricultural chemistry, now almost univer- 
sally considered a necessity in colleges of agriculture. The agricultural college stu- 
dents in Vermont have altogether oidy one year's work in chemistry, a foundation 
quite insufficient for a superstructure of technical scientific agriculture. In the stronger 
agricultural colleges at least a year and a half, and generally more, is required, with 
specific courses in the agricultural application of the science. 

The absence of effective work in poultry raising is equally striking, particularly 
in view of the attention paid in other colleges of New England to the opportunities 
in this direction. For example, at the Massachusetts Agricultural College there is a 
large building devoted to poultry husbandry, together with several smaller buildings 
and breeding-houses accommodating a large and excellent stock of the various breeds 
of chickens, ducks, and geese. Somewhat similar conditions exist in the other New 
England agricultural colleges. The Rhode Island State College has three courses in 
poultry husbandry, one of which is required of all agricultural freshmen. In contrast 
to the activity in this field elsewhere in New England, poultry husbandry is given at 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 167 

the Vermont Agricultural College only by a non-resident lecturer, at an expenditure 
by the university of SI 50 a year. There is, however, no reason to suppose that Ver- 
mont is not quite as much adapted to this lucrative side of agricultural industry 
as the other New England states. There is a similar absence of other subjects usually 
present in the curriculum of the better agricultural colleges, such as instruction in 
farm niachineiT. 

The entire agricultural equipment at Vermont is meagre. Thus, the equipment for 
teaching scientific dairying is not adequate, the department is not adequately housed, 
and there are no animals available for teaching purposes. It is true that there are 
animals upon the farm attached to the Experiment Station, but they have been se- 
lected for commercial reasons and are not necessarily adapted to the needs of teach- 
ing. In addition, students have no access to this farm and professors very limited 
access. For this reason live-stock judging cannot be properly carried on, even upon 
its present empirical basis. For such work the professor in charge is compelled to take 
his students to commercial establishments in the vicinity of Burlington. There is no 
piggery. A few pigs live in the manure cellar under the bam. The barn for the dairy 
cattle, erected twenty-two years ago, is not of modern constniction. This lack of equip- 
ment seriously affects the work of animal husbandry, — particularly in dairying, which 
is the principal industry in Vermont. A marked lack of the Agricultural College is 
the absence of a separate technical library available for the students. There are a few 
agricultural books, almost exclusively departmental and Experiment Station reports, 
housed in the basement of the general library. But there is no adequate collection of 
scientific agricultural literature, and vei-y few of the agricultural technical journals 
appear. It would be impossible for this to be otherwise in view of the fact that the 
sum available for agricultural literature each year is only $62.50. 

To sum up the situation with respect to the College of Agriculture, it may be said 
that its courses are not based upon a consistent educational policy, that the equip- 
ment for teaching is meagre, that on their practical side the courses seriously lack 
equipment, and that by reason of these conditions the College of Agriculture is not 
adapted to serve well either the needs of the boy who desires to be a practical farmer 
or those of the youth who looks toward a scientific training in agriculture, and finally, 
that this whole situation has lent itself to a regime under which the college has a 
very slender connection with the agricultural industries of the state. It does not help 
or guide these industries in any such way as should be expected of an efficient agricul- 
tural college. 

These statements are not made with any desire to criticize the professors in the 
Agricultural College. These professors are excellent men, and they have done admira- 
bly with the means that they have had at their command. The situation in which the 
College of Agriculture finds itself — the lack of equipment, the empirical quality 
of its courses, and the failure to connect itself with the industries of the state — is 
the result of a policy of administration for which the trustees are responsible. This 



168 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

consists in the expenditure that the trustees make of the generous annual gift that 
the state receives from the United States government, amounting to a Httle more 
than $88,000. By law 830,000 of this must be spent for the Agricultural Experiment 
Station. The S8130 received as interest on tlie federal grant of 1862 is not required 
by law to be expended in any specific manner; $3200 of it is used in the support of 
the university treasurer's office. The remaining .$50,000 received annually from the 
United States Treasury is spent as follows, according to the University's report: 

Engineering $13,302 

Natural and Physical Science 1 1,246 

Botany and Zoology 5,660 

Agriculture 5,481 

Mathematics 5,240 

Economic Science 4,697 

EngUsh 4,122 

Sundries 252 

Total $50,000 

One does not need to go farther than this to understand the poverty and defi- 
ciencies of the State School of Agriculture. Out of S58,130 received from the general 
government chiefly for agricultural education there is expended on the agricultural 
school as such, $5481. The remaining .$53,000 are spent upon subjects that the uni- 
versity would teach if it had no school of agriculture. In a word, the appropriation of 
the general government for agricultural education has been used under the policy of 
the trustees for the benefit of the general educational development of the university, 
and in the process the Agricultural College has been milked dry. ITie college being 
thus weakened, there is then an effort to help it by turning the Experiment Station 
into a teaching agency, a process equally injurious to the Experiment Station. It is a 
singular outcome of the legislation enacted at the instance of Senator Morrill, him- 
self a Vermonter, whose object, as he himself expressed it, was "to do something for 
the farmer." It is also interesting to note that this policy has been carried out by a 
board half of whose trustees ai-e appointed by the state in order to look out for the 
interests of the State Agricultural College. The outcome illustrates how small a meas- 
ure of state control is vested in a board so constituted. Omitting the $8130 received 
from the interest on the grant of 1862, the trustees, after the expenditures made on en- 
gineering, the natural and physical sciences, mathematics, economic science, and Eng- 
lish, leave themselves, out of the income derived from the federal government, only 
$11,141 to spend on agricultural education. Of this sum $5660 are spent upon botany 
and zoology, which, although necessary for a college education in agriculture, would, 
under ordinary circumstances, be provided by any university maintaining a college 
of arts and sciences. In other words, of the total sum of $50,000 received by the trus- 
tees from the United States government because of the presence of the Agricultural 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 



169 



College, only S5481 are spent otherwise than would be the case if the Agricultural 
College existed elsewhere. That is to say, only this sum of money is spent upon dis- 
tinctively agricultural subjects, such as agronomy, soils, horticulture, farm machin- 
ery, farm management, dairying, animal husbandry, and the like. This has always 
been the policy of the university tnistees, but it is a policy that has been accentuated 
in recent years. Twenty years ago the trustees allotted only $3376 to distinctively agri- 
cultural education, but the annual appropriation from the United States government 
then stood at $18,000. This appropriation has increased in the intervening twenty 
years by $32,000, but the sum allotted to agricultui'e has gi-own by only $2105. 

It is worth while to make some comparison of the policy of different institutions 
with respect to the use of the annual federal grant. This is exhibited in the following 
table of the disbursement of such funds in 1911-12.' In this table the University of 
Vermont and Rutgers College are the two remaining institutions in the United States 
in which the state agricultural college is part of a privately endowed institution. The 
universities of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois represent states having strong agri- 
cultural schools in institutions owned and controlled by the state, and aided also by 
large state appropriations. 





AgriculUire 


Engineering 


English 


Mathematics 


Natural and 
Physical 
Sciences 




$3,659,59 
5,481.39 
10,400.00 
20,000.00 
25,000.00 


$11,108.60 
13.202.34 
11,300,00 
10,100.00 


$5,350.00 
4,122.92 
6.200.00 
5,600.00 


$10,407.09 
5,240.00 
4,300.00 
5,750.00 
5,583.30 


$19,474 72 








10,900.00 




5,050.00 


University of Hlinois 


19 416 70 











This expenditure of the federal appropriations on subjects other than agriculture 
may or may not be strictly legal. The first Morrill act provided that the funds realized 
under it should be used in the maintenance of colleges "where the leading objects shall 
be . . . to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic 
arts," and the expression "mechanic arts" has been universally construed to mean 
engineering. The act furthermore declared that although such were to be the leading 
objects of these colleges, this was to be "without excluding other scientific or clas- 
sical studies," and this comprehensive language was followed in the "second Morrill 
act," of August 30, 1890. But the debates in Congress when these acts were under 
consideration show conclusively that it was to benefit agriculture primarily that these 
appropriations were authorized by the United States government, and as Vermont 
is predominantly an agricultural state, it is certainly questionable whether the trus- 
tees of the Univei'sity of Vermont by their present method of expenditure are exe- 
cuting the intent of Congress, or serving the best interests of Vermont. 

The attitude of the trustees toward the Agricultural College can be appreciated 

' U. S. Commissioner of Education, Report, 1912, II, 361-36S. 



170 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

only by going back to the history of its establishment. What has gone on in Vermont 
has in large measure gone on in all other states of the Union. When the first Morrill 
act was passed providing for agricultural education, neither Senator Morrill nor the 
states themselves had any clear idea of what sort of institution was to be developed 
for the benefit of the people on the farms. In this legislation the term "mechanic 
arts" played a very subsidiary part, and unquestionably was intended at the moment 
to include only those elementary mechanic arts that are immediately associated with 
farming. When, however, the states received the grants, and the practical question 
arose as to what disposition should be made of the money, the term "mechanic arts" 
assumed an unexpected and far-reaching role. Tiie great engineering schools had just 
been founded. Engineering education had been placed upon a sound scientific basis, 
and a curriculum for the training of engineers had been adopted that lent itself 
with fair success to the end aimed at. In the absence of any educational considera- 
tion as to how agriculture could be taught or what was the most effective way to 
serve the educational interests of those upon the farms, the term "mechanic arts" 
was quickly translated to mean high-grade engineering, and from that day the en- 
gineering side of education has overshadowed agricultural education in most of the 
land-grant institutions. 

Not only was there a lack of any educational program for teaching agriculture, but 
at the time of the Morrill acts, and for many years after, most intelligent people, in- 
cluding farmers themselves, looked down upon the agricultural school as a doubtful 
agency in education. The students of the Vermont Agricultural College, as everywhere 
else, were not in favor with the general student body. The "Aggies'" were looked 
upon as decidedly inferior to students of arts, of science, or of engineering ; and 
when the University of Vermont, an old and well-established institution, took over 
the State Agricultural College, it was not through any sympathy with the ideal of 
agricultural education, or through any desire to have an agricultural college as a part 
of the university. The Agricultural College and the students in it lived for many 
years in an atmosphere in which the prejudices of trustees, of faculty, and — most of 
all — of students were directed against them. It is not surprising that in this situa- 
tion the trustees should lend themselves to a policy that enabled them to build up 
the parts of the university in which they really believed and to devote to agriculture 
a meagre remainder. In most states this situation has undergone a transformation 
during the last ten or fifteen years. To-day the applications of science to agriculture, 
to stock raising, to farm machinery, have all come to be recognized as subjects capa- 
ble of being taught in a college. Agricultural education, from being neglected, stands 
now very much in danger of becoming a fad, and of suffering impractical and unwise 
exploitation for the next quarter of a century. In many states of the Union the agri- 
cultural college has developed a close connection with the industries of agriculture, 
and thereby has bi-ought to its support the farmers of the state, so that it wields not 
only a large political influence, but obtains thereby a generous state support. This 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 171 

has not yet happened in Vermont. It is true that the "Aggies" are no longer looked 
down upon as they were, but the resulting change has brought about no difference of 
policy as to the spending of the large fund received from the general government. 
The Agricultural College remains in the same starved condition in which it has 
existed since its foundation. 

The most practical and definite obligation of the state at the present time in higher 
education is to see that a clear policy is entered upon as to the function of the Agri- 
cultural College, and that then, in the second place, the college shall be adequately 
supported. 

Shall the function of the Agricultural College be to train farm boys in the tech- 
ni([ue of their vocation in some such way as they are trained in the agricultural 
school at Lyndonville, or shall its function be to develop scientific agriculture in Ver- 
mont ? Either one of these functions is defensible, but they cannot both be carried on 
simultaneously. Our experience of fifty years in agricultural education goes to show 
that a trade school will not grow in a university atmosphere, and that the real func- 
tion of a university college of agriculture is the promotion of scientific agriculture 
and the maintenance at the same time of right relations to elementary agricultural 
training-schools. The second, and in some ways the greatest, function of a technical 
college of agriculture is the development of a fruitful and stimulating relation with 
the farming industries of the state in which it stands. To be in close touch with the 
agricultural problems of the state, to deal with these problems by the best means 
that science affords, and to put the fruits of these investigations by simple, direct, 
and feasible methods into the hands of the farmers themselves, is the greatest func- 
tion that such an agency can perform. 

In order to play this role, the State Agricultural College must have adequate sup- 
port. That a state should be receiving from the federal government so large a sum, 
and that it should, under these circumstances, starve its Agricultural College into 
a position where it is neither an effective agency for education nor for scientific 
experiment, is a situation that ought to continue no longer. Whether it be true 
or not that the legislation enacted by Congress makes legal the expenditure of the 
United States grant in any way the trustees may choose, it is certainly neither to 
the honor nor to the credit of a state to receive this generous grant of the general 
government and use it for the upbuilding of miscellaneous departments of instruction 
at the expense of the primary purpose for which the appropriation was made. By every 
consideration of efficiency and of state pride the commonwealth should insist that a 
fair proportion of the United States annual grant shall go into agricultural instruc- 
tion, and it should supplement this income bv such means as are necessary to effect 
the contact between the agricultural school and the agricultural industries, a cause 
which is not within the provisions of the grants made by the general government. 

A word should be added as to the work of the Agricultural Experiment Station 
and its relations with the Agricultural College. 



172 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The purpose of the Experiment Station is scientific experimentation in agriculture, 
inckiding all allied collateral industries. This is a magnificent endowment of agri- 
cultural research. In a small state like Vermont, thirty thousand dollars a year ought 
to produce the most practical, important, and significant investigations of the prob- 
lems with which the dairyman, the stock-raiser, and the gardener are concerned. It is 
true that work of a high order in agricultural investigation has been done at the 
Vermont Experiment Station, but it is also true that the station, as a research agency, 
has been up to this time a small factor in the improvement of agricultural processes 
and methods in the state, and this is due in large measure to the fact that it has 
been used, as far as lay in the power of the trustees, in the interests of the college 
and the engineering school. The dean of the Agricultural College is the director of 
the Experiment Station. He has been loaded down with the work of teaching. The 
same thing may be said of other men on the staff. However desirable it may be that 
the Experiment Station and the Agricultural College should have a real and vital 
connection, it is clear that the chief reason for the existence of the former institution 
has been taken away if its staff is to be made chiefly a body of teachers. No other 
form of research in the history of the world has ever been similarly endowed. If money 
could promote investigation in proportion to the amount expended, research in 
agriculture ought to exceed in efficiency any other field of scientific endeavor. As 
a matter of fact, however, only a small proportion of these funds ever contributes 
directly and efficiently to agricultural investigation. They cannot do so when locked 
up in salaries. Part of this income should remain fluid. 

In addition to giving to the Agricultural College an adequate support, it is also 
clearly the duty of the trustees to set the Agricultural Experiment Station free to 
bend its efforts directly and energetically to the investigation of those problems whose 
solution means so much to the individual farmer and dairyman. There is an enor- 
mous field in Vermont for the Agricultural College and tlie Agricultural Experiment 
Station, but in order that these agencies may do their work, there must be a clear 
conception of what that work ought to be, a suitable organization for carrying it 
out, and a use of the money now in hand for the pui-poses of agriculture rather than 
for the purposes of general instniction. 

The College of Medicine 

The College of Medicine of the University of Vermont is one of the old medical 
schools of the country. It began instruction in anatomy and surgery as early as 1809, 
and what was considered in that day a full course of lectures was inaugurated in 
1822. By 1836 it had graduated 116 doctors of medicine, when, owing to the diffi- 
culties of conducting the school in a small place, it was abandoned until the year 
1854, when it was reestablished in an enlarged building. A better building was pro- 
vided in 1870, and a still better one in 1884. This last was burned in 1903, and the 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMOiNT 173 

present building was erected in 1904-6 at a cost of $125,000. This building, contain- 
ing the dissecting-rooms, laboratories, and lecture halls, is admirably situated, and 
is throughout a well-lighted, well-heated, and well- ventilated building, and one excel- 
lently adapted to its pui-poses. With its equipment it is now valued at $150,000. 

Until 1899 the relation of the College of Medicine to the university was, like that 
of most American medical colleges, a purely nominal one. The college was conducted 
by a group of physicians, with a nominal affiliation with the uni versity, but practically 
independent of its control. In that year it was made "a coordinating department 
of the University under the control of the boai'd of trustees," but it was really not 
until 1911 that the College of Medicine was, in the language of the catalogue, "made 
a part of the University system.'" 

The medical school year was lengthened from twenty weeks to six months in 1895, 
to seven months in 1903, to seven and a half in 1907, and to the same length as the 
other university terms in 1912. 

The College of Medicine is administered through a faculty, with a dean, in much 
the same manner as other departments of the university. There are at present nine 
professors, who receive annual salaries of $15,000 in all, the regular professor's salary 
of $2000 being paid to but three men. In addition, there are a number of special 
professors, assistant professors, and instnjctors, some of these being special lecturers 
brought from Boston and from New York to take up particular subjects. In all there 
are some forty-four teachers on the instructing staff, twenty-eight of whom are chosen 
from the sixty-one practising physicians in Burlington. 

The income of the College of Medicine for the year 1912-13 amounted to 
$34,011.49, of which $20,861.70 came from tuitions and $10,000 from state appro- 
priations, the remaining small amount being received from laboratory fees and room 
rent. The expenditures consisted of $26,928.34 for teaching salaries, $5,397.15 for 
equipment and supplies, and $1,861.62 for the maintenance of the building, leaving 
a small deficit for the year of $175.62. The state appropriation of $10,000 began in 
1909 and has been increased for the year 1913 to $23,500. 

The expenses to the student in attending the medical school consist of a tuition 
fee of $125, a $5 matriculation fee, and a $10 annual athletic fee, besides $25 at 
graduation, charges that are comparable with those made in similar medical schools. 

For many years the attendance of students upon the College of Medicine has been 
very large in comparison with the facilities offered. Ordinarily there have been be- 
tween 140 and 200 students, which is a large number as such medical schools go. The 
singular fact has been that there should be so large a school in a somewhat remote 
town. 

ITie explanation of this phenomenon is found in the fact that the majority of the 
medical students come from outside the state of Vermont. For the year 1912-13 only 
32 per cent of the students were from Vermont, the others coming from New York 
and New England, and in considerable numbers from the cities of Boston and New 



174 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

York. The reason for this attendance has been that the entrance requirements have 
been low and that Burhngton was one of the easiest places in New England to obtain 
a medical degree. The inducement that attracted this large group of students was 
not the belief that they were to obtain a superior medical education in Burlington, 
but the knowledge that the medical degree was to be won easily there. 

The entrance i-equirements for a number of years stood at 14.5 units, the equiva- 
lent of a high school education. The entrance certificates of the 144 men now in the 
medical school have all been examined from year to year, as they entered, by repre- 
sentatives of the Carnegie Foundation. Last autumn for the first time the new en- 
trance requirements, demanding one year of college work for admission, went into 
effect. The admissions during these four years have been as follows : 

55 entered in 1909 
47 entered in 1910 
40 entered in 1911 
12 entered in 1912 

The admissions to the medical school were plainly decreasing even before the 
higher entrance requirements went into effect. The reasons for this were the gradual 
rise of medical education throughout the whole country and the growing appreciation 
of the need for good clinical facilities in the study of medicine. Medical students to- 
day go in steadily decreasing numbers to schools where the clinical facilities are poor. 

It will be noted that under the new entrance requirements only twelve students 
were admitted in 1912, omitting one who was admitted and soon afterward dropped. 
Of these twelve oidy three were from the state of Vermont, four were admitted from 
other medical schools without college training, while one was a repeater turned back 
from the former class. In other words, only by a very liberal construction of the en- 
trance requirements was the entering class as large as twelve. It is clear that when 
the full entrance requirement of two years of college work goes into effect, the school 
must accept an entering class certainly not larger than ten, and that it can scarcely 
hope to graduate each year more than four or five doctors, the majority of whom 
will probably come from outside of Vermont.* 

Those who have studied the medical school in detail have been particularly struck 
with the high order of devotion exhibited by the dean and by the professors imme- 
diately associated with him. They have put into their work great intelligence, sin- 
cere devotion to the student, and a high determination to give to those who come to 
Vermont to study medicine the best education they can furnish. The question of 
the development of a medical school at the University of Vermont is, however, one to 
be settled entirely apart from the devotion of those immediately connected with it. 

' EiKhteen men are registered in the entering class of 1913, eight of them from Vermont. Eight had two or more years 
in college, nine had one yejir in college — two-thirds of these were conditioned — one entered from another medical 
school. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 175 

Three questions ought fairly to be understood and answered in determining the 
retention and development of the medical school: (1) Can a modern medical school 
be developed in Burlington? (2) How much would such a school cost conducted upon 
a sound plane of medical teaching? (3) Is the state justified in spending the money 
necessary to maintain such a school? 

To answer these questions, the situation at Vermont has been studied by a number 
of men familiar with medical teaching and with the use of clinical material. Some of 
these have been associated with the American Medical Association and its Council 
on Education' and others were without any such connection. 

The testimony of all of these men is that the question of clinical material for 
a medical school at Burlington is a difficult one. In order that a student may learn 
medicine or surgery, he ought to be brought into contact with a large amount of clin- 
ical material, cases of the ordinary sort, the ordinary illnesses that men and women 
have. These he should see in great number. They form really his laboratory instruc- 
tion. It is clear to those who have carefully examined the situation at Burlington that 
such clinical material as exists has been made the most of. Patients who come to the 
clinics are used over and over again to the limit of their ability to submit to such 
studies. Physicians in the region are asked to send patients, and frequently they do so. 
Every effort has been made to bring together such clinical material as could be had, 
but even under the most optimistic view, it is clear that with the greatest effort and 
the most painstaking application the supply of such material is meagre in a city of 
the size of Burlington and the villages that surround it. This scarcity of clinical mate- 
rial is felt particularly in subjects like obstetrics or contagious diseases, and it has 
been the practice for nietlical students at Burlington to take during the summer, when 
they could afford it, a course in some city, where the opportunities to deal with ob- 
stetrical cases and with contagious diseases were present. Looking at the situation 
from the most sympathetic point of view and giving full credit to the energy and 
devotion of the faculty, it is evident that from the standpoint of clinical material 
the conduct of a medical school in Burlington will always be a difficult matter. 

A second sei'ious difficulty in conducting a medical school in a small city far re- 
moved from centres of population lies in the problem of obtaining good teachers in 
clinical and surgical branches. Under such circumstances the school is almost sure to 
draw its teachers from the group of local practitioners, and although this situation 
has been appreciated in Burlington and has been helped out, so far as possible, by the 
importation, for short courses, of men from New York and Boston, it still remains true 
that the maintenance of a good medical school staff in Burlington would be a difficult 
and expensive thing. Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch Potter, Assistant Pi'ofessor of Clinical 
Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, who spent two days 
in an examination of the school, while speaking in the highest terms of the spirit and 
morale of the faculty, points out this weakness in the phrase: "The teaching body 

' The Council places the Vermont school not in its first (A + )cIassof 24 institutions, but in its second (A) class of 42. 



176 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

is almost as closely inbred as was the teaching force at the Harvard Medical School 
when I was a student there in the 90's." In other words, on account of the isolation 
and the expense involved, there is a strong tendency in such a school to organize the 
teaching staff out of the local members of the medical profession, a tendency which, 
even with the best intentions, can be overcome only by the expenditure of a large 
sum of money. 

As to the cost of maintaining a modern medical school under such conditions, 
one can only consider the minimum cost at which a good teaching school could be 
conducted. The expenditures in the maintenance of the school for the last year were 
$34,000, of which sum $20,000 and more were supplied from tuitions. The amount 
from tuitions will shrink in the next four years to a practically inappreciable sum, 
and the school must rely almost wholly for its maintenance either upon endowment, 
of which it has none, or upon state support. Furthermore, $34,000 is not sufficient to 
maintain the school upon a right plane. Somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000 
will be needed to conduct in Burlington a school upon a university basis and capable 
of giving a medical education adequate to the demands of present-day teaching. This 
money must come from the state, if it is to be had at all, and this means that every 
Vermont student graduated would pro})ably cost the state from five to ten thousand 
dollars. 

Is the state justified in maintaining and developing a medical school under such 
conditions and in view of the demands made upon it in other directions ? Vermont is 
surrounded by good medical schools, to which Vermont students who intend to study 
medicine now go. Just north of the state is Montreal, to the east is Boston, to the 
south is New York, — all great medical centres and with splendidly developed mod- 
ern medical schools. No matter what the state of Vermont does in the development 
of a school at Burlington, the bulk of Vermont students who want to study medicine 
will and ought to go to other places, for they can there obtain a medical education 
such as cannot possibly be given in Burlington, even when one makes all allowances 
for the intimate contact of teacher and student, for the small numbers, and for the 
personal attention. The state of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College have re- 
cently dealt with this question in what would seem to be a judicious way. Dartmouth 
College, like the University of Vermont, has for many years conducted a school of 
medicine that has been subsidized by the state of New Hampshire. Within the pres- 
ent year it has been decided to give up the last half of this medical course and to 
leave New Hampshire students free to seek their clinical education where it can be 
had best. \Vlien one considers the pressing need in Vermont for the development of 
elementary and secondary education and for placing the public school system under 
a fruitful administration, the expenditure of the large sum of money necessary to 
develop a medical school under unfavorable conditions is hard to justify. 

One other feature of the medical situation needs to be referred to. Vermont has 
gone quite far in recent years in the effort to deal with social problems, and plans 



THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 177 

have been considered for the treatment of the sick poor of the state at some place 
to be designated. It has been urged that, while a medical school might not be jus- 
tified upon the ground of the small number of Vermont doctors who would be edu- 
cated there, it might nevertheless be justified in coiuiection with a state hospital and 
dispensary for treating the sick poor of the state, and that these patients would, on 
the other hand, furnish the clinical material for student use. 

This argument, however, does not bear a close analysis. 'Whether the conduct of 
such a free clinic for the poor of all the towns of Vermont is a wise thing or not is 
in itself a question for consideration, but if such a state clinic and hospital is to be 
established, it is perfectly clear that it could be conducted at a cost which would be 
a mere bagatelle in comparison with the cost of conducting a medical school in addi- 
tion. Furthermore, it is also evident that the clinical material which would be obtained 
in this way would have comparatively little significance in medical teaching, since 
the patients would be nearly all chronic cases, not cases such as the medical student 
most needs to see. The medical school must, in fact, stand upon its own feet, and must 
justify itself by the contribution that it will make to the state of Vermont in the 
training of Vermont physicians. It is in the interest of the people of Vermont to have 
a reasonable supply of well-trained physicians; it is a matter of very small concern 
to them whei-e these physicians are trained, so long as they are educated, high-minded, 
thoroughly prepared men. From all available information it does not seem likely that 
the abolition of the medical school at Burlington would diminish in any respect the 
supply of such physicians to the state. The question, therefore, is one to be deter- 
mined upon its own merits and with full regard to the other obligations in educa- 
tion which the state has assumed. Looked at from this point of view, it seems impos- 
sible to justify this expenditure of state money. 



XII 
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 

MiDDLEBURY CoLLEGE is One of the older institutions of what we now call the Amer- 
ican college type. Chartered in 1800, it was the twenty-sixth institution of higher 
education to be established in the United States. Its charter was singularly free from 
denominational or state requirements, its sole provision looking to state oversight be- 
ing that the ordinances of the college shall "be laid before the legislature ... as often 
as required, and may also be repealed or disallowed by the state legislature." Even 
this legislative power has never been exercised. In 1902 the legislature authorized 
the president and fellows of Middlebury College to establish "a coordinate institu- 
tion for the higher education of women." The growth of the women's college has been 
significant since that date, the number of women having increased from 53 in 1903 to 
l-iT in 1913. Women students form at present nearly one-half of the student body. 

The college is in the village of Middlebury, which has a population of about 1800. 
At the beginning of the last century, when the college was organized, it had a popu- 
lation of approximately 1300, considerably larger at that time than the population 
of Burlington. The town is on the main line of railroad between New York and Mon- 
treal, in an attractive region, and is in most respects the typical, somewhat isolated, 
small New England town. 

The government of the college is vested in twenty-one self-perpetuating trustees, 
the alumni, in accordance with a resolution of the board in 1879, nominating three 
candidates for each alternate vacancy. At present all of the trustees except four are 
alumni. The board meets regularly at Commencement and in January. There are few 
special meetings. The prudential committee, composed of the Middlebury members, 
meets frequently. The finance committee, consisting mainly of the New York mem- 
bers of the board, meets upon call in New York City. The committee on instruction 
spends about a week at the college each year and presents reports. The board is a rep- 
resentative, active, and able body. A bill for a state board of visitors, similar to that 
of Norwich University, passed the last House of Representatives, but was withdrawn 
in the senate. 

The administration of the college under the trustees is of the ordinary character of 
the smaller colleges. The president supervises the general work of the college, conducts 
the correspondence, approves expenditures of money, and forms, as in most institu- 
tions, the connection between the college and the general public. The other officers 
of administration consist of the dean, the registrar, the dean of the women's college, 
and a superintendent of buildings and grounds. The introduction of the women's col- 
lege would complicate the problem of administration but for the fact that the regis- 
tration is in one place, the faculty is the same, and instruction is in the same classes, 
except whore these are so large that they nmst be divided into sections. 



MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 179 

To the ample campus of thirty acres, given in 1810, there has since been added the 
women's campus of thirty-five acres, and the Porter Athletic Field of eighty acres, 
presented in 1912. The buildings of the college are representative of the periods 
at which they were erected. Painter Hall, a dormitory, was built in 1814; the chapel 
in 1836; and Starr Hall, a dormitory, in 1861. These are all stone structures of 
dignified architecture. The Starr Library was given in 1900 at a cost of $50,000; 
the Warner Science Hall cost $70,000 in 1901 ; Pearsons Hall, the women's dormitory, 
cost $66,000 in 1911; and the McCullough Gymnasium was completed in June, 
1912, at a cost of $51,000. A new and quite elaborate building for chemistry, costing 
$50,000, is now nearing completion. The value of the buildings, grounds, and appara- 
tus approximates $470,000, having been practically doubled in the last six years 
under the energetic administration of the president now in office. As the buildings 
are arranged at present they would, with slight additions, afford accommodations well 
adapted to a moderate-sized college of from 250 to 300 students. The library needs 
additional reading room. 

The endowment, which had been a little over $400,000, had no appreciable growth 
until within six years, during which it has been increased to a productive endow- 
ment of $540,000. An additional $500,000 is now being sought. 

The financial resources of the institution, therefore, represent at the present time 
approximately $1,000,000. Of this $380,000 has been added during President 
Thomas's administration, among the largest contributors being the General Educa- 
tion Board, which gave one-fourth of $200,000, and Dr. D. K. Pearsons, who gave one- 
fourth of $100,000. 

The income of the college for the year 1912-13 amounted to a little over $70,000, 
as compared with .$31,000 five years ago, a result again due in the main to the en- 
ergy of the new president. Of the income for the year 1912-13, $27,427 came from 
student fees, a result showing an enormous gain in six years. In 1902-3 the income 
from student fees was approximately $2500; in 1908 this income was $5700. This 
great increase means that many more students now pay their tuition. For many years 
before the advent of President Thomas, practically any student who desired and asked 
for it obtained free tuition, a result demoralizing alike to the college and to the 
student. The remainder of the income is made up as follows: from interest on en- 
dowment, $27,705.78; state appropriation, $16,250; small gifts for current expenses, 
some $380, — in all, as stated before, an income for the current year amounting to 
$71,763.32, a sum that has been more than doubled in six years, the sources of 
increase being better collection of student fees, an increase in the endowment, and a 
very large increase in the state appropriation. 

The expenditures for the year 1912-13 were as follows: 

Salaries $49,769.15 

Departmental appropriations 2,532.19 



180 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Library supplies, etc. $1,072.66 

Miscellaneous expenses, including heat, light, and repairs 20,898.61 

The State appropriation was expended as follows: 

Scholarships $2,400.00 

Salaries in pedagogy, home economics, geology, forestry, and zoology 8,814.00 

Departmental courses ' _ 2,000.00 

Summer School 1,478.63 

Equipment, repairs, and maintenance 549.82 

SuppHes - 1,007-55 

$16,250.00 

The appropriation of $2400 referred to above provides for thirty state scholar- 
ships at S80 each on account of tuition. These scholai'ships are awarded entirely by 
members of the state senate. Under the Act of 1912 thirty similar scholarships are 
available for the year 1913-14,also awarded by senators. In addition, during this year 
the college awarded scholarships amounting to $4790, making a total scholarship 
award of $7190. Of this total $5460 was given to men and $1730 to women. No 
scholarship is competitive; those awarded by the college are based partly on finan- 
cial need. President Thomas has recommended that all state scholarships be awarded 
by examination of high school graduates, the student to have a choice as to which 
institution he will attend. 

The cost of student life at INIiddlebury College is extremely moderate. Tuition 
is $80 a year, the incidental fees are $12, and a room is $40; board can be had for 
$129.50, and the laboratory fees amount to about $12 — a total of $273.50. For 
women the expenses are somewhat larger on account of the higher cost of board, 
the minimum total expense in the case of women amounting to $304. The difference 
in the expense to women is not intended as a discrimination against them, but re- 
sults from the superiority of their dormitory accommodations, which is well worth 
the difference in cost. The college authorities, however, do favor the men in the matter 
of scholarships, since there is some apprehension lest the institution become increas- 
ingly a women's college, a tendency that is already manifest, and which is likely to 
be increased by the development of the department for the training of teachers, 
which attracts many more women than men. 

The instructing staff numbers twenty-eight, including the president. Salaries are 
extremely moderate, the maximum salary of a professor being at present $2000, 
assistant professors receiving from $1300 to $1700, and instructoi-s from $900 to 
$1000. Notwithstanding the simplicity of life in a small village, the expense of living 
is nevertheless large, outside of rent, and these salaries represent a really meagre re- 

' EnKlish, French, German, Greek, History, and Latin. 

' Forestry, Geology, Home Economics, Pedagogy, and Zoology. 



MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 181 

turn, particularly when one takes into account the isolation that a teacher accepts in 
living in a small village, removed not only from the companionship of other scholars, 
but from the facilities of libraries and literary and scientific societies. In spite of this 
fact, however, the twenty-eight members of the staff are men of excellent training 
in good institutions. Fourteen of the degrees held by the group are from Middle- 
bury, eleven from Harvard, seven from Yale, five from the LTniversity of Vermont, 
and four from Wesleyan. 

The instruction offered by this staff of teachers consists of 172 courses, announced 
in the catalogue for 1912-13, of which, however, only 123 were given. The curriculum 
includes sound courses in the ordinary college studies in science and in arts. These fun- 
damental courses, however, which form the backbone of college work, whether one turns 
toward the classical or toward the scientific form of education, are somewhat overlaid 
by a series of elective groups for prospective students of agriculture, education, en- 
gineering, journalism, law, medicine, and the industries. The attitude of the college 
in this matter has been too expansive for thorough work. P"or example, in 1911-12 
agriculture, practical and commercial pomology, and economic entomology were all 
offered by one instructor. In 1912-13 forestry was offered by a professor who an- 
nounced six other courses. Industrial, sanitary, and agricultural chemistry was offered 
by an instiiictor who announced three other courses. A half-year course in engineering, 
including materials, highway construction, elementary hydraulics, sanitary engineer- 
ing, sanitary science, and public health, was offered by an assistant professor who gave 
four other courses. These excursions into agriculture and engineering seem indefensible 
from the standpoint of a well-planned college. It may be entirely desirable to include 
in the college courses sound study relating to agriculture, but that does not justify the 
announcement of practical agricultural work. It may be desirable to teach surveying 
to a small class of students, but the insertion of that study does not justify the an- 
nouncement of a depai-tment of engineering and the solicitation of students for sucli a 
department. No one would desire to confine the American college to a hard-and-fast 
curnculiim, but it is also perfectly clear that when the college undertakes to extend 
its activities to applied sciences like agriculture and engineering, or to give specific 
preparation for professions like journalism and law and medicine, it is compelled to do 
one of two things: either to make its instruction superficial throughout, or else to 
obtain a far larger sum of money for support than would be necessary for the legit- 
imate work of the college. Practical agriculture and engineering would in the end be 
a burden to the college, if fully developed, and they are of little value when superfi- 
cially done. The inauguration in Middlebury in 1911-12 of the Department of En- 
gineering, in competition \vith the staff and adequate resources provided in that field 
by the University of Vermont, and the attempt to develop a department of practical 
agriculture in competition with the well-equipped State Agricultural College seem 
unwise departures from the true field of the college. The college has no engineering 
equipment except surveying instruments, and the offering of a freshman and sopho- 



182 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

more curriculum in engineering by a single assistant professor, himself a graduate 
in 1907 of an engineering school, is misleading to the student. The preliminary 
mathematics, chemistry, physics, and mechanics of an engineering course can be 
learned at the college, but to announce what seems to be an engineering coui-se is 
a mistake. 

The Department of Pedagogy at Middlebury was established in 1908 by the legis- 
lature with an annual appropriation of $6000, which was increased in 1912 toS10,400. 
The head of the department was the former principal of the Johnson Normal School, 
and his inmiediate colleague in the conduct of the department was formerly a high 
school principal and teacher at the Castleton Normal School. The department has 
good rooms and a special library, which it is planned to make available for teachers. 
Some use has been made of the local schools for practice-teaching, but this feature of 
the development is as yet in a rudimentary stage. The work, however, is being prose- 
cuted with vigor. \Vhat effect this new development will have upon the college it is 
not possible at this time to foresee. It may well be that the Department of Pedagogy 
will in time transform the college into something that may resemble a professional 
school, largely for women. 

It is not easy to define just what constitutes an American college, any more than it 
is to express clearly what constitutes an elementary school or a secondary school, but 
it will be generally agreed that the American college stands for a general training in 
those fundamental studies that are intended to arouse the intellectual and spiritual 
qualities, to teach the student to think, to help to introduce him to his duties as 
a man and as a citizen, and to lead him into general cultural relations. It is not pri- 
marily a vocational school. On the contrary, its main purpose is to orient the student 
with respect to intellectual, moral, and social forces, so that whatever vocation he may 
adopt, he may play a man's part. 

It has been the case hitherto that when a technical, professional school has been 
yoked up with a college, that the technical school has generally run away with the col- 
lege; and the reason for this is not far to seek, because the technical student comes 
in the professional spirit. The student of pedagogy or of law or of engineering has 
his eyes on the method by which he is to make a living. This attitude of mind is quite 
different from that of the college student, and it ought not to be a bad thing to have 
such groups associate together, but as a matter of fact it usually has happened that 
they do not coalesce, even when they are in the same institution. Whether, therefore, 
the institution of the Department of Pedagogv in the college will turn out to be pri- 
marily for the benefit of the development of Middlebury as a college is a question well 
worth consideration by the trustees and the oflicers of the institution. 

Nothing more clearly indicates the attitude of an institution toward education than 
the method of enforcement of the entrance requirements that it may adopt, and ex- 
perience shows that it is not necessarily the amount or difficulty of the entrance re- 
quirements that constitutes the difference in institutions, but rather the discrimina- 



MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 183 

tion and sincerity with which the adopted requirements are administered. The very 
purpose of fixed entrance requirements for college lies in the fact that the funda- 
mental idea in the constitution of the American college is to bring together a fairly 
homogeneous group of students, whose intellectual attainment is at least compara- 
ble. Only when the student group is approximately homogeneous in intellectual fit- 
ness can it be taught advantageously. Wherever there is a marked difference between 
the preparation of students, the efficiency of the instruction for the whole group is 
impaired. 

In the enforcement of its entrance requirements during the past few years Middle- 
bury College has shown a certain degree of laxity. The entrance requirements for the 
arts course have been for a number of years fourteen units, intended to secure the 
previous completion of a four-year high school course; for the Latin-scientific course 
the admission requirements were about a half-year less until 1908, when these require- 
ments were also advanced to fourteen units. In 1909, 93 students were admitted, the 
admissions including a number of students carrying heavy conditions and the approval 
of certificates that were of doubtful value. In 1910, a number of admissions were also 
of doubtful character and included the acceptance of students in cases where the head- 
masters of the schools from which they came considered the quantity and quality of 
their work unfit for college entrance; expressing this in phrases like the following: 
"Has credit for only three years of high school work." "I cannot conscientiously rec- 
ommend him." "This school does not wish to be held responsible for the kind of work 
that she may do." In 1911,120 students were admitted. Their certificates, all of which 
were examined at the time by the Foundation, showed a great improvement in char- 
acter and quality. The 1912 admissions, on the other hand, showed a considerable re- 
laxation as compared with those of 1911. Briefly stated, the examination of the en- 
trance certificates of 298 students entering during the four years indicates that the 
students have been very leniently admitted and upon the ground of a standard far less 
strongly administered than that of the University of Vermont or even than that of 
Norwich University. Students have been entered when their lack of preparation has 
not only hampered them, but has also lowered the tone of instruction in the college. It 
is not too much to say that the college would to-day be improved by the dropping of 
a considerable number of students who were not ready to enter and whose presence 
affects the whole quality of instruction.^ In the records of students coming from the 
secondary schools, it is noteworthy that the Middlebury College authorities report 
that in the last five years six of their best students and sixteen of their poorest stu- 
dents have come from the Middlebury school, a situation that reflects, of course, the 
temptation to admit local students who are unprepared. 



' Middlebury College has recently decided to adopt the standards of the New England College Entrance Certificate 
Board, admitting students only with its certificates, or by examination, — a policy that will unquestionably result 
in a better prepared student body and a wholesome influence on the secondary schools. 



184 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

Tlie following table gives a record of attendance : 





1902- 


Men 


65 


Increase 




Women 


53 


Increase 




Total 


US 


Increase 




From Vermont 


61 


Proportion 





1907-S 


WIS 


-751 


119 


173 




84% 




45% 


84 


147 




_ --^8% 




75% 


203 


320 




72% 




57% 


134 


153 




66% 




47% 



51% 

The growth in student attendance in the college has been marked in the last six 
years. This is particularly true in the number of women students. Women were first 
admitted to the college in 1883, and since their separate college charter was obtained 
in 1902, in spite of larger fees, fewer scholarships, and fewer specialized courses, they 
have increased more rapidly than the men. In the five years between 1907—8 and 
1912-13 the number of women students increased from 8i to 147, or 75 per cent; 
while during the same period the number of men increased from 119 to 173, or only 
45 per cent. 

The interesting fact concerning the student body is that less than half of the stu- 
dents in 1912-13 (34 per cent of the men and 63 per cent of the women) were from 
Vermont. It is also intei-esting to note that the registration in science and in peda- 
gogy is increasing more rapidly than that in arts. 

Considering Middlebury College from the standpoint of its educational opportu- 
nities, therefore, it seems clear that the opportunity that lies before the college is to do 
well the work of a college and to attempt nothing more. It is situated in a small town. 
Whatever the student obtains in the way of cultural and intellectual training must 
be furnished by the college. Its sole appeal to men and women must lie in the oppor- 
tunity it gives for an isolated but intensive college life. Institutions of this type 
are of the greatest value. They have brought into our American life many of our best 
men and women ; their opportunity to train such men and women lies almost entirely 
in making their college training wholesome, thorough, and sincere. 

During the last six or eight years the college has expanded both in numbers and 
in the field that it attempts to cover. Both expansions have been at the expense of 
a certain amount of true educational thoroughness. Loosely administered entrance 
requirements have added to the number of students. The excursion into various col- 
lateral fields having bearing upon industrial or scientific subjects has apparently en- 
riched the coiu'se of study, but has added little to the real value of the college. The 
true opportunity of such a college lies in doing the work of a college only. To make 
the institution more fruitful, there is necessaiy not so much the teaching of additional 

' These totals do not include ten graduate Btudents. 



MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 185 

subjects as the possession of an income sufficient to pay the highest class of college 
teacher to do the fundamental work well. This fundamental work is now being admira- 
bly done, in most cases, by the existing college staff, which, however, is overworked in 
the effort to cover too large a field. Meanwhile, the college faces a growing tendency 
to become a women's college, a tendency greatly accentuated by the inauguration of 
the depai-tment of pedagogy, the candidates for which are almost entirely women. The 
number of boys from Vermont does not greatly increase, in spite of the effort to attract 
them. The inducement, in fact, for young men to go to the college becomes less as the 
proportion of women students increases. While, therefore, the work of the college is 
distinctly good, and while the opportunity to maintain a good American college will 
always remain, thei-e are before the trustees and officers of the institution serious 
problems to consider; they must deal with influences that may within the next ten 
or twenty years materially change the character of the college. 

The direct concern of the state of Vermont with Middlebury lies, however, in the 
work that the state has subsidized the college to do. It seems perfectly clear that no 
state ought to subsidize a college like Middlebury, no matter how good an institution 
it may be, merely for the purpose of enabling it to carry on its general work, unless the 
institution is owned and controlled by the state. The question, however, that is pre- 
sented in the subsidizing of Middlebury is this: Is it wise for the state to subsidize 
a college like Middlebury to enable it to perform for the state a distinctive service, 
the training of teachers for the secondary schools.'' Only upon the ground of this 
distinctive service could such a use of public money be defended at all. The ques- 
tion is whether there is an urgent need for such an agency, and whether Middlebury 
College can effectively perform that work for the state. 

The need of a subsidized agency for the training of teachers of the secondary 
schools of Vermont does not seem, on careful examination, at all pressing. There are 
in all the high schools of Vermont fewer than 300 secondary school teachers. To re- 
cruit the annual vacancies in this corps does not need a very large number of teach- 
ers, and the testimony that has been brought together concei'ning the appointment of 
teachers shows that the state has applications from many more secondary school teach- 
ers than it has places to fill. These teachers come from various colleges and normal 
schools, — from Middlebury, from the University of Vermont, from Dartmouth, and 
from several Massachusetts colleges. They are in the main college graduates, some- 
times with special training for teaching, usually without; but there seems to be no 
difficulty in obtaining many more fairly well-qualified teachers for the secondary 
schools than there are places to fill. Taking into consideration the many sources of 
supply for secondary school teachers and the urgent needs of the state in elementaiy 
education, the subsidy to Middlebury College does not seem defensible. 

Another feature of this situation ought not to be passed over without the most 
careful consideration. Middlebury College, although subject in a remote way to state 
control, is practically governed by its own board of trustees. It can be assumed safely 



186 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

that any department for the training of secondary school teachers that has back of 
it a state subsidy will in the long run acquire such prestige and influence that its grad- 
uates will be in command of the secondary schools of the state. The history of all such 
college movements goes to show that the college graduate devotes his loyalty to the 
college rather than to the state, and that he will be guided in his educational policy by 
his allegiance to the college. In the long run, under this arrangement, Middlebury Col- 
lege would acquire a commanding influence in the whole determination of the edu- 
cational system of the state. As a question of public policy, it seems extremely doubt- 
ful whether any state ought to entrust such power to any institution that it does not 
own and control. 



XIII 
NORWICH UNIVERSITY 

Norwich University was founded at Norwich, Vermont, in 1819 by a former super- 
intendent of West Point. It received its charter as Noi'wich University in 1834. 
The adoption of the name "university" was an unfortunate event in the history of 
the institution. It has never been a university nor can it ever be such, and during 
the whole of its history it has labored under the disadvantage of doing a work in 
education wholly out of relation to the name under which it has lived. 

In 1866 the buildings at Norwich were burned and the institution was removed to 
Northfield, which offered grounds and barracks. Tlie village of Northfield is in almost 
the exact centre of the state, with a population of a little less than two thousand. It 
lies directly in the hills, the school standing on the level top of one of these hills on 
the edge of the village. There are in the village no advantages for students outside of 
those that the college itself offers. 

Norwich University is governed by a self-perpetuating board of thirty trustees and 
the president ex officio, all being elected for terms of five years. Five of the thirty 
tnistees are nominated by the alumni. Of the present board ten are from North- 
field, eight others from Vermont, four from New York, three from Massachusetts, and 
one each from California, Connecticut, Iowa, and New Hampshire. There is now one 
vacancy. Sixteen of the thirty are alumni. The trustees have a Commencement meet- 
ing that is well attended, and one other meeting in Northfield during the year. Be- 
sides these, two or three other meetings are held, ordinarily at Northfield. These are 
attended by only a small proportion of the board, and naturally in these meetings 
the Northfield members compose a large proportion of those present. The executive 
and finance committees, composed in the main of the local members, meet at the 
president's call. The management of the institution is quite strongly local. 

Two of the state visitors usually attend Commencement for a day or two and make 
some inspection of the books. No record, however, of the reports made to the legis- 
lature by these visitors can be found, although the president of the university states 
that, according to his best belief, such reports have been made. The law of 1912, 
which adds the state superintendent of education and the state auditor to the visitors' 
committee, and requires them to report upon the expenditure of state money, should 
result in regular reports. 

The organization of the institution is simple, but adequate. The president con- 
ducts the general affairs of the institution, including the care of legislation, which is 
an important part of his duties. The dean attends to admissions, promotions, and 
graduation. The commandant, detailed from the United States Army, is in charge of 
discipline and military instruction. The institution has been fortunate in the last three 
years in having as commandant Captain Tompkins, whose detail is just closing. 



188 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

and who has given a most devoted and effective service in the military department. 
In the school administration there are ten faculty conmiittees, some active, others less 
so. The professor of English has in charge the solicitation of students much after the 
manner of preparatory schools, by circulars, by correspondence, and by visiting school 
principals, individuals, and promising candidates. The problem of bringing students 
into the institution is one of the most serious and difficult duties, for reasons that will 
appear as the general description of the school proceeds. 

In order to judge fairly the equipment of the school, it is to be remembered that 
the institution is not a university in any sense. It is really a modest engineering school 
with a very strong military element, so strong, in fact, that the military features color 
all the school work. The afternoons are wholly devoted to military duties and to mili- 
tary instruction instead of being given, as in most institutions, to laboratory and 
library work. The equipment, therefore, that the institution has for its work is simply 
the equipment of an engineering school. 

The buildings consist of Dodge Hall, the gift of General Dodge, costing $10,000, 
wjiich houses the chemical laboratories and certain rooms for drawing and recitations; 
Dewey Hall, costing .'?22,500, given by general subscription, providing a chapel, ad- 
ministration offices, and a small museum; Carnegie Hall, costing $37,500, providing 
a rather unsatisfactory library and modest quarters for electricity and physics. A 
heating plant, costing $12,-500, was erected in 1905. In 1909 the United States gov- 
ernment erected a weather bureau building immediately adjoining the grounds at a 
cost of $15,000. The drill hall and stables are inadequate wooden buildings. The en- 
tire cost of these buildings, exclusive of that of the government, amounts approxi- 
mately to $85,000. In addition to the buildings used for instruction and laboratories 
are two halls whose cost was $75,000, and which together are able to house 215 cadets, 
or half as many more as are in attendance. 

The laboratories as well as the equipment for the teaching of the sciences them- 
selves are meagre. There is a sufficient number of surveying instruments and an ex- 
tremely modest equipment for physics and for chemistry. The military equipment is 
provided by the federal and state governments. Of the 14,700 books only a small 
fraction are useful. Apparently but little use is made of the library except for maga- 
zine reading. 

The endowment of the institution at the present time amounts to $114,800, and 
the entire value of the plant, including grounds, buildings, and equipment, would per- 
haps amount to scarcely $300,000. 

The current income of the year 1912-13 is estimated at approximately $48,000, 
made up as follows: 

From students $22,000 

Income on endowment 5,500 

State appropriation 15,500 

Other sources 5,000 



NORWICH UNIVERSITY 189 

The item of $5000 comes from the sum paid by the Adjutant-General of the 
state of Vermont on legal authority for the military service of cadets. This sum by 
the action of the cadets themselves is returned to the institution. The extraordinary 
situation is here presented of the state of Vermont enrolling in its military service 
natives of other states and subsidizing them to come to the institution. 

The expenditures of the institution for the same period are estimated as foDows : 

Instruction $17,500 

Administration 12,500 

Current expenses 8,100 

Library, including books and service 1,420 

Miscellaneous expenditures 7,540 

Total $47,060 

Under the law as now framed, 120 state scholarships were available in the year 
1912-13. Fifty-five of these, amounting to $3850, were assigned by senators. These 
fifty-five constitute 88 per cent of the total of 62 students from Vermont in the year 
1912-13. The remaining state scholarships, assignable by the president, were not 
used. There are nearly twice as many state scholarships as there are students from 
the state. 

There were also assigned to students not from Vermont 44 university scholarships, 
amounting to $1600, and one special scholarship, amounting to $50, — a total of 
$1650. In all, therefore, there was an expenditure for scholarships amounting to 
$5500; or 68 per cent of the 147 students in attendance were in receipt of scholar- 
ship aid. 

The cost of education to the student is extremely moderate, ranging from $300 to 
$450 a year. The authorities report that more than $500 is seldom spent by a single 
student. Compared to a city college, the cost is slight, although it will hardly be 
considered cheap in comparison with what the student gets. Less than one-third, 
however, of the students in 1912-13 came without some financial aid. 

The instructing staff consists of ten professors, three assistant professors, and 
one instructor. The professor of military science and tactics and the professor of 
meteorology, who is the local forecaster of the AVeather Bureau, are salaried officials 
of the government. The average salary of a professor is $1350, and of an assistant 
professor, $1100. Considerable increases in salary are planned from the increase in 
the state appropriation for 1913-14. The salaries at present are extremely low, even 
taking into account the scale of living which is common in the village of Northfield. 
Partly for this reason the members of the faculty have been drawn in considerable 
measure fi-om graduates of the institution itself Under such conditions the difficulty 
of getting competent men must be very great. This is illustrated by the arrangement 
made with the professor of electrical engineering, whose time is divided between 
Dartmouth College and Norwich University, giving three days a week in each place. 



190 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The curriculum offered in Norwich University is that of a somewhat meagre en- 
gineering course, which in large measure must be theoretical, in view of the lack of 
equipment, the limited number of instructors, and the large amount of the students' 
time devoted to military duties. The instructing staff, which, excluding the presi- 
dent, numbers fourteen, amiounces 121 semester courses in addition to sunmier schools 
and thesis supervision. Sixteen of these courses were not given in 1912-18, and aU 
but one of the remaining 105 were given by 11 persons, an average of about 10 courses 
a year, or 5 at one time. One professor gave 17, one 15, and two 12 each. In general, 
the amount of work announced is excessive for the size of the staff, and some of the 
assignments would seem impossible. For example, the single professor who conducts 
17 courses a year is responsible for all of the instruction in the English language, com- 
position, and literature, the English Bible and Oriental classics, economics, law, psy- 
chology, logic, and ethics. In the catalogue 20 courses in chemistry are announced, 
all of which must be given by one pi-ofessor, who also has other work, and one in- 
structor. An entire program in civil engineering, consisting of 24 semester courses, 
three summer sessions, and theses, is atinounced by three teachers, who also announce 
eight other courses. An entire curriculum in electrical engineering, covering 14 se- 
mester courses, is announced by one teacher, who gives one-half of his time to the 
institution, a promise of instruction that can only mislead the student. 

The extended offering of courses for a small number of students results in many 

small classes : 

34 classes with 1 to 9 students 
33 classes with 10 to 19 students 
20 classes with 20 to 29 students 
13 classes with 31 to 38 students 
5 classes with 47 to 63 students 

Thus, 67 classes, or about two-thirds of the whole number, are economically too 
smaU; only about one-fifth are of economically convenient size. 

No descri])tion of the instruction offered at the institution would be in true per- 
spective which failed to bring out the fact that military instruction and discipline are 
the backbone, not only of the curriculum, but of the school life. The whole of every 
afternoon is devoted to military instruction, a larger amount than is given at West 
Point. No other institution in the country that gives so much military instruction 
attempts to do full college work at the same time. 

The value of this instruction from the standpoint of discipline is doubtless great 
when it is carried out by so able and conscientious an officer as the one now in charge. 
This value, however, depends almost wholly on the personality of the officer detailed 
by the United States government, and even at its best it is certainly a question 
whether the prospective engineer does not sacrifice his engineering to military train- 
ing when he puts so large an amount of time into the latter. That the military work is 



NORWICH UNIVERSITY 191 

on the whole well done there seems to be little question. In genei'al, also, the students 
lii<e the military work. Some of them are sent there with the hope that it may cor- 
rect deficiencies that have hitherto been unsuccessfully dealt with. There is so little 
else to draw the students to Northfield that the military inducement is made as 
attractive as possible. 

The entrance requirements until recently have been below those of graduation from 
a four-year high school, but that standard is now in force, and has been applied with 
fair sharpness and sincerity. Of the sixty-two students admitted in 1913, two were 
from colleges or from normal schools, forty-three were high school graduates, one the 
graduate of an academy, seven were non-graduates admitted on certificate, one a non- 
graduate admitted on examination, two were admitted on personal interview, two 
upon certificates returned, and four lacked certificates. The two admitted on the basis 
of personal interview were both over twenty-one. The entrance standard is not as 
high as the examinations of the New England College Certificate Board would make 
it, but it is reasonable, fairly represents higli school graduation, and is earned out 
with entire honesty in spite of strong pressui'e from parents and principals to take 
irregular students for disciplinary reasons. 

The marking of a student is done minutely and with care, and is on the whole 
severe rather than lenient. Students are ranked in class. There are daily reports of 
absence, monthly reports of standing are posted, and term or monthly reports of 
standing are sent home to parents. The elimination of students is therefore large, 
niost of those who leave going on account of poor work, others to institutions of 
another kind. The majority of those who go, leave at the end of the freshman year. 
Naturally, in such close association as obtains in an isolated village, the teaching 
staff is conspicuously interested in the work of instruction and is in close touch with 
the student body. 

The school confers the degrees of B.A. and B.S. in general course, as well as the 
degree of B.S. in chemistry, civil engineering, and electrical engineering. The mas- 
ter's degree in arts and science and occasionally the master's degree in civil engi- 
neering are given for post-graduate studies under the direction of the faculty, or for 
professional, literary, or scientific pursuits approved by the faculty. In 1912 there were 
confeiTed one degree of bachelor of arts, two degrees of bachelor of science in chemis- 
try, twenty-two in civil engineering, and seven in electrical engineering, while three 
degrees of bachelor of science in course were granted to members of the classes of 1877, 
1898, and 1905, and four honoraiy degrees were conferred at the same time. In 1911 
there were eleven degrees "in course" to members of classes from 186-1 to 1886, and 
fourteen honorary degrees. The honorary degrees granted by the trustees, without the 
advice of the faculty, are verv generously given, to say the least. 

The sources from which students are drawn is shown from the following tabulation, 
extending over ten years : 





1902-3 


1907-S 


Seniors 


18 


27 


Juniors 


11 


31 


Sophomores 


15 


38 


Freshmen 


26 


72 


Specials 


4 




Total 


~Y^ 


168 


From Vermont 


57 (77%) 


87 1 



192 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

1913-13 
18 
33 
33 
63 

14.7 

(51%) 62 (42%) 

The proportional attendance from Vermont is thus small, and has decreased from 
three-fourths to less than one-half. Most of the Vermont students are from a restricted 
area.^ 

In 1912-13 students attended the institution from nine other states. Of these 49, 
or 33J per cent of the entire attendance, came from Massachusetts, and 15, or 10 per 
cent, from New Hampshire, — that is to say, Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
together sent more students than the state of Vermont. In addition, there were 8 
from Connecticut, 5 from Maine, one or two from five other states, and one student 
from China. The attraction to most of these men who come from outside the state is 
apparently the military work. 

The Dodge-Ellis History of Norwich University shows that in the past fifteen 
years the graduates have gone in very large numbers into engineering. During that 
period 175 adopted that profession, 36 went into business of various kinds, 28 into 
military or naval service, 14 into teaching, 4 into law, and 1 into medicine. About 
two-thirds of the graduates pursue engineering in one form or another. The term 
"military service," as applied to a number of these graduates, refers only to tempo- 
rary service. A representative of the Vermont Marble Company selects seniors from 
the institution for its work each year. 

In general it may be said that here is an institution in a small and isolated com- 
munity, with meagre equipment and slender resources, offering modest opportunities 
for training in engineering by a faculty that is ill-paid and overworked. The intimate 
relation of faculty and students serves to help out the character of the instruction, 
and the preponderating place given to military drill and military instruction affects 
the whole conduct of the work and the life of the institution. When one visits the 
school and observes the devotion that many of its teachers give and notes the loyalty of 
those connected with it, he hesitates to suggest action that would diminish the meagre 
support that the school now receives. On the other hand, when one considers the ques- 
tion whether the state of Vermont ought to subsidize such an institution, it seems 
clear that injustice to the interests of the state itself, in justice to its obligations to 
other forms of education, and in justice also to the students, the expenditure of state 
money for such an institution cannot be defended. There is conducted in the Uni- 



NORWICH UNIVERSITY 193 

versity of Vermont a much stronger engineering school, under far better auspices, 
than can possibly be developed at Northfield. Military instruction there is given by 
a United States officer equally competent and devoted, although the amount of time 
given to military training is far less. So keenly are the weaknesses of Norwich felt 
that it is only by a system of subsidies that students are brought to the school in any 
considerable numbers. Even under these circumstances a majority of the students 
come from outside the state. That the state of Vermont should tax itself to support 
a school whose facilities for engineering are so meagre, whose chief function is mili- 
tary instruction, the majority of whose students are drawn from outside the state, 
is a use of money that cannot be defended upon any educational grounds, or upon the 
grounds of the state's duty to the system of elementary and secondary schools. If such 
a military school is to be conducted, it should be supported from other sources, and 
the state should apply its own funds to those direct problems of education in which 
every child on the farm, in the village, or in the town is immediately interested, and 
upon which the intellectual, moral, and material progress of the state depends. It is 
here that the state's duty lies. 



XIV 
THE HISTORY OF VERMONT SUBSIDIES TO HIGHER EDUCATION 

The relations that have existed in Vermont between the state and the three insti- 
tutions of higher learning that the state has subsidized have been of a somewhat 
unusual character. The nature of this relation has been described fully in Section X. 
It was there shown that while the state has retained a certain measure of control with 
respect to all of these institutions, appointing in the case of the University of Vermont 
half of the board of trustees, and in the case of Norwich University a visiting board 
whose function is to criticize and report the condition of the institution, nevertheless 
the practical working of the relationship results in the subsidizing by the state of 
independent institutions. 

Actual appropriations of money by the state of Vermont to the three institutions 
of learning began in 1852, when the legislature canceled a vote of the University of 
Vermont to the School Fund, and divided the remainder of the fund between Middle- 
bury College and Norwich University. No further appropriation was made to any of 
the three institutions until the year 1884, when an act was passed appropriating to 
Norwich University $1500 annually, which was to be used in payment for tuition and 
room rent for thirty cadets. The first institutional subsidy, therefore, was obtained by 
that device which has been used so often in so many states, — the state was induced to 
make an appropriation to an institution under the guise of assisting students. 

In 1886 an appropriation of $3500 annually was voted for the support and mainte- 
nanceof the State Agricultural Experiment Station, but thisact was promptly repealed 
in 1888, when it was realized that the Experiment Station was to receive support 
from the United States government. This procedure is also characteristic of legisla- 
tion in other states. No state of the Union will pay for educational support tiiat it 
can induce the United States government to give. From that day to this the Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural College have been supported out of 
the funds granted to the state by the general government, the only contribution of 
the state being an appropriation of $60,000 in lOO-lforthe construction and equip- 
ment of a building for tlie department of agriculture. 

In 1888 the University of Vermont and Middlebury College, having noted the suc- 
cess of Norwich University in obtaining a subsidy, secured the passage of an act grant- 
ing each of them $2400 a year for four years for paying " the tuition and incidental 
college charges of thirty students," and the university also obtained that year an 
additional appropriation of $3600 for providing competent instruction in branches 
of learning related to industrial arts. 

When these appropriations expired in 1892 they were, by an act of that year, 
made annual appropriations, and by a second act of the same year the appropriation 
to Norwich University for the payment of tuition and rent for thirty students was 



HISTORY OF VERMONT SUBSIDIES TO HIGHER EDUCATION 195 

raised to $2400 annually. There was thus realized in this year the completion of an 
arrangement which practically became a gentlemen''s agreement, under which the 
three institutions, or those who represented them, have since that date worked to- 
gether to the end that each should dip its hand into the state treasury to as large 
an extent as possible. This process, accompanied with little supervision as to how 
the money should be expended, has resulted in increasing the state expenditures year 
by year, and has developed more and more a disposition to play three sections of the 
state against one another. 

Annual Appropriations for Vermont Colleges • 



Year 


University of 
Vermont 


Middlehury 
College 


Norwich 
University 


Total 


1884-1885 






$1,500 


$1,500 


1885-1886 






1,500 


1,500 


1886-1887 






1,500 


1,500 


1887-1888 






1,500 


1,500 


1888-1889 


$6,000 


$2,400 


1,500 


9,900 


1889-1890 


6.000 


2,400 


1,500 


9,900 


1890-1891 


6.000 


2.400 


1,500 


9,900 


1891-1892 


6.000 


2,400 


1,500 


9,900 


1892-1893 


6,000 


2.400 


2,400 


10,800 


1893-1894 


6.000 


2,400 


2,400 


10,800 


1894-1895 


6,000 


2,400 


2,400 


10,800 


1895-1896 


6.000 


2,400 


2,400 


10,800 


1896-1897 


6.000 


2,400 


2,400 


10,800 


1897-1898 


6,000 


2,400 


2,400 


10,800 


1898-1899 


6,000 


2,400 


6,000 


14,400 


1899-1900 


6,000 


2,400 


6,000 


14,400 


1900-1901 


6,000 


2,400 


6,000 


14,400 


1901-1902 


6,000 


2,400 


6.000 


14,400 


1902-1903 


6,000 


2,400 


6.000 


14,400 


1903-1904 


6,000 


2,400 


6.000 


14,400 


1904-1905 


6,000 


2,400 


11.000 


19,400 


1905-1906 


6,000 


2,400 


11.000 


19,400 


1900-1907 


6,000 


2,400 


11.000 


19,400 


1907-1908 


6,000 


2,400 


11.000 


19,400 


1908-1909 


6,000 


2,400 


11.000 


19,400 


1909-1910 


16,000 


8,400 


11.000 


35.400 


1910-1911 


26,000 


8,400 


11.000 


45.400 


1911-1912 


20,000 


16,000 


11.000 


53.000 


1912 1913 


26,000 


16,000 


11.000 


53,000 


1913-1914 


52,300 


28,800 


20,000 


100,100 



From 1892 onward, as tlie preceding table shows, the amount of money devoted 
to each institution has greatly increased. The annual appropriations for each remained 
practically constant until the year 1898, the University of Vermont receiving $6000 



^ It is believed that this table is substantially correct, in spite of the puzzling character of the appropriations which 
continue, without beintr mentioned when .additional appropriations are made. The table does not include the early 
grants to the Agricultural Experiment Station, the summer session payments to Middlebury College, or the payments 
to Norwich University for militia service and forage. 



196 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

annually, each of the other institutions $2400 annually. In the year 1898 the friends 
of Norwich University succeeded in boosting their appropriation by $'3600, the others 
remaining the same. In 1904 the friends of Norwich University again took the initia- 
tive and raised the appropriation of that institution to §11,000, the othei's remaining 
the same. In the year 1908, however, the appropriations for the University of Vermont 
and for Middlebury College were increased to $16,000 and $8400 respectively, the 
former for the maintenance of medical instruction, tlie latter to establish and maintain 
a department for the education and training of high school teachers. Since that date 
the increases have been rapid, so that for the year 1913-14 tlie appropriation of the 
University of Vermont amounts to $52,300, that of Middlebury College to $28,800, 
and that of Norwich University to $20,000, a total annual appropriation of §100,100. 

The character of this legislation is well indicated in the words of the acts them- 
selves. For example, in some of these appropriations, such as that in 1908 of $10,000 
for the maintenance of medical instruction, the money is devoted by the words of the 
act to a specific and definite purpose. The same remark applies to the appropriation 
made in that year to Middlebury for the establishment of a department of peda- 
gogy. In both these cases the language was specific, and the money was devoted to 
purposes that might reasonably be claimed to be closely related to the educational 
interests of the whole state. 

The legislation enacted in 1910, however, in favor of the University of Vermont 
and of Middlebury College plainly indicates the general tendency of the competition 
between these institutions in an effort to cover the whole field of knowledge. In that 
year the University of Vermont and Middlebury College each received an annual ap- 
propriation of $13,600. The act provided that the monev appropriated to the Univer- 
sity of Vermont might be used for "providing instruction in the principles and methods 
of teaching:, in branches relatinfftoEnglish language and literature, ancient and modern 
languages and histoi'y, mathematics, political, social, moral and industrial sciences." 
The language of this act plainly indicates that in 1910 the University of Vermont 
was getting ready to meet the competition of Middlebury College in the establishment 
of its department of pedagogy, and that the act was so fi'amed that the money might 
be used not only for this purpose, but for the purpose of instruction in any other field 
of knowledge that it might be desirable to enter. 

The language of the act appropriating money to Middlebury College was even 
more objectionable. It provided $13,600 annually for "the establishment and main- 
tenance of a department of pedagogy for the education and training of high school 
teachers in said institution, and to provide instruction in forestry and other subjects 
related to the industries of Vermont." The part of this act relating to the depart- 
ment of pedagogy is merely a repetition of that enacted in 1908. It is specific and 
direct; but the remainder of the act plainly provided a blanket clause by which Mid- 
dlebury College could meet the comjjetition of the University of Vermont in forestry 
and other subjects relating to the industries of Vermont. The language of these two 



HISTORY OF VERMONT SUBSIDIES TO HIGHER EDUCATION 197 

acts shows clearly the sort of duplication and rivalry that is sure to result where com- 
peting institutions are being subsidized by the same state legislature. The only func- 
tion that Middlebury College can perform is that of a college. For the support of even 
that work it has not large resources. To expend any funds that it may have in forestry 
and similar subjects i-elated to the industries of Vermont is to undertake instruction 
that it clearly cannot give. In these two appropriations the words "industrial sci- 
ences" in the one case, and "subjects related to the industries of Vermont" in the other, 
simply mean that each institution intended to preempt as wide a field of instruction 
as it could. No better example could be given of the political attitude into which 
colleges are drawn by such competition. 

The passage of these two pieces of legislation was, in the natural order of events, 
supplemented at the next legislature by the passage of an act can-ying an appropria- 
tion of $11,000 annually, and S9000 more for two years, in favor of Norwich Univer- 
sity, to be used in the development of a school of engineering and for "the mainte- 
nance of laboratories and equipment for its work in engineering." The state here 
subsidized with $20,000 a weak school of engineering a few miles away from a much 
stronger school already developed at Burlington. With the passage of this act the 
gentlemen's agreement reached its maximum. Each institution now has its hand in 
the state treasury for a large amount of money ; each institution is careful not to 
oppose, at leaist openly, the application for subsidy to the other, but each takes care 
that when any subsidy is granted its friends shall see that a similar increase is voted 
to their own institution. 

This arrangement has grown up very naturally. Those in control of these institu- 
tions are not directly responsible for it. Money has been appropriated year after year 
under blanket provisions without any real scrutiny from the state as to how it was 
used, as to the unnecessary duplications that were developed, or the personal and in- 
stitutional rivalries that were being fed. The situation has been unfortunate for the 
institutions themselves and for the whole state. The feeling developed between the 
friends of the separate colleges has spread by the contests before the legislative com- 
mittees to a far larger number of people than those connected with the institutions. 
Persons became partisans of one or the other institution without any knowledge of 
their work or of their relative significance. The whole situation is one whose contin- 
uance would be unfortunate from every point of view. It is a question whether the 
state of Vermont, in view of its obligation to the elementary and secondary school sys- 
tem, ought to make any subsidies to the institutions of higher learning. Higher edu- 
cation does not need this sort of stimulation in New England. Colleges having a real 
educational service will receive requisite financial support from an intelligent public. 

In seeking to make clear to those responsible for legislation and to the public the 
consequence of the educational rivalry that has existed in Vermont, it should be said 
that this is done without the slightest desire to criticize those now responsible for the 
conduct of these colleges. The president of the University of Vermont has been only 



198 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

a short time in the state ; the president of Middlebury College has had but a few years 
of service; and the president of Norwich University has been in office somewhat less 
than a dozen years. These gentlemen and the trustees associated with them inherited a 
situation that has existed for thirty years. The college president feels most keenly the 
responsibility of caring for and promoting the interests of his own institution. He is 
not charged, except indirectly, with the duty of determining whether the state ought 
to appropriate money or not. His main obligation lies in the development and progress 
of his institution. He stands too close to his college to be an impartial judge of what 
the state ought to do for it. That responsibility rests upon the legislators. They are 
the representatives of the people who have voted money to these competing interests, 
and they are the responsible agents of the whole people to correct whatever ill effects 
have resulted from the policy hitherto in force. The present occasion, when a study is 
being made of the whole educational field of Vermont, is no time for recrimination 
as to what has been done in the past. It is the time for a sober, judicious, and fair 
decision of the state's obligation to education, and the determination of a policy for 
the future that shall serve the interests of the whole people without diverting money 
to causes that are essentially local or competitive. For this determination the leg- 
islator, not the college president, is responsible. The argument of the college presi- 
dent to maintain the status quo is one to which the legislator ought not to listen. No 
college president is an impai'tial judge as to whether a state ought to make an ap- 
propriation for his college. To submit to him such a question is to put him in a wrong 
position. That question must be answered and that responsibility must be taken by 
those who are primarily responsible to the people for the spending of the people's 
money. 



XV 
THE OUTLOOK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

The preceding sections have dealt in detail with the equipment, the teaching facilities, 
and the courses of study of the three colleges now subsidized by the state. A brief 
reference may be made to the general outlook for higher education. 

There are at present in the three Vermont colleges some 1026 students of all classes. 
Of these, 565, a little more than one-half, come from Vermont. On the other hand, some 
400 Vermont students are in attendance upon colleges outside the state. There are, 
therefore, in every thousand of population in Vermont three students of higher edu- 
cation. This is a high rate of college attendance, — the general rate throughout New 
England. For the future it may be assumed that with good standards and stricter 
requirements, such as are likely to be maintained, the general growth of college 
attendance will be no more rapid than in the last ten years. 

There is, however, one source from which the student body is likely to receive large 
additions. In Vermont there are fully as many young women as young men. The effect 
of the entry of women into the higher professions and into the industrial life of the 
country is only just beginning to be felt in the colleges and universities of New Eng- 
land. In the high schools there are many more girls than boys. It seems inevitable 
that the number of women both in the University of Vermont and in Middleburv 
College will increase, and will equal, if not exceed, the number of the men, as is the 
case in some of the western state universities. 

This result is a perfectly natural outcome of the adoption of the principle of co- 
education, and is a result that might well have been foreseen from the beginning. 
The Vermont colleges, however, appear to have realized the significance of the move- 
ment only within a few years, and at the University of Vermont and at Middlebury 
College there is an imeasy feeling over it. Both are a little fearful lest they become 
distinctively women's colleges. Both offer inducements to men rather than to women. 
At Middlebury, where the influx of women has been greatly increased by the inaugu- 
ration of the department for the training of teachers, the women enjoy fewer sciiolar- 
ships. 

These precautions are not likely to have any effect against a steadily rising stream. 
When institutions have adopted the principle of co-education, the growth in the at- 
tendance of women is a normal and natural thing. That it will in the course of time 
change the character of the institutions is not to be denied, but there is no reason to 
suppose that this change will affect the scholarly and educational value of the insti- 
tutions. Women students do not contribute to the intercollegiate athletic regime in 
quite the same way as men, but they are on the whole more conscientious and more 
studious, and there is no reason to suppose that their presence in the college will take 
away from the intellectual vigor of the institutions. In any case it is evident that a col- 



200 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

lege cannot accept co-education and avoid its obvious results. Under the conditions 
imposed by our social and industrial ideals of to-day, with a population in the state 
equally divided between the sexes, with the secondary schools containing a far larger 
proportion of young women than of young men, it is clear that tlie Vermont colleges 
will in a few years appeal quite as much to the women as to the men. 

A word should be said also as to the large body of \'ermont students who now 
seek educational opportunities at colleges outside of the state. In the campaigns that 
the colleges have made before the legislature some attention has been called to this 
matter, and it has been urged that the state should aim, by affording additional facil- 
ities, to keep these students in the colleges of ^'ermont. It requires but a brief analysis 
of this student migration to show that it is in large measure due to causes that are 
independent of the opportunities that the Vermont colleges can offer, and that on 
the whole it is an advantage and not a disadvantage to the state to have its sons and 
daughters seek superior educational advantages wherever they can find them. 

There are, roughly speaking, 400 Vermont students attending colleges outside 
the state. The institutions to which the largest groups go are as follows, the num- 
bers being those for the year 1912-13. It will be noted that Dartmouth is, next to the 
University of Vermont and Middlebury, the largest Vermont college. 

Dartmouth College 
Smith College 
Syracuse University 
Harvard University 
Tufts College 
Mt. Holyoke College 
Yale University 
Simmons College 
Cornell University 
Columbia University 
Brown University 

The remaining Vermont educational emigrants are scattered among some twenty- 
five other institutions. 

An analysis of the colleges to which these students go and of the courses of study 
that they pursue shows that thev have gone either in response to certain definite wants 
or under certain educational pieferences. A large group of the students who go outside 
of Vermont go for better professional training — to law schools likathat at Harvard; 
to medical schools in Boston, New York, and Chicago; to strong engineering schools 
like those at Cornell and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Another 
group is made up of students wlio go to long-established institutions like Harvard, 
Yale, Williams, and Brown. In many cases these are the sons of alumni of these in- 
stitutions. In other cases they are attracted by the advantages and the renown of the 



65 


Boston University 


10 


30 


Worcester Polytechnic Institute 


10 


28 


Wellesley College 


9 


27 


University of Maine 


9 


26 


Wesleyan University 


9 


26 


Massachusetts Institute of Technology 


8 


22 


Vassar College 


7 


20 


University of Michigan 


7 


16 


Williams College 


6 


13 


Amherst College 


5 


11 


University of Chicago 


5 



OUTLOOK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN VERMONT 201 

institutions themselves. It is quite clear that a considerable proportion of students, 
among both men and women, are influenced by a preference for institutions that are 
not co-educational. For example, nearly one-quarter of the entire migration consists 
of students at the well-known women's colleges. A large attendance at institutions 
like Syracuse University, Tufts College, and Wesleyan University is due to denomi- 
national preferences. No changes that Vermont might make in the support of its insti- 
tutions are likely to affect these classes of students. Professional students in law and 
medicine and engineering will continue to go where they can find superior advantages. 
Graduates of Harvard and Yale and Williams will continue to send their sons to these 
institutions. Women who prefer a distinctive women's college will continue to go to 
Smith and Vassar and AVellesley and Bryn Mawr. The Universalists will continue to 
send their sons to Tufts, the Methodists to Syracuse and Wesleyan, as long as denom- 
inational feeling remains strong. Nothing that the state can do will divert this stream 
of migrating students. On the contrary, it is to the distinct advantage of the state 
that its sons and daughters avail themselves of the best educational advantages and 
return to their native state. It is a vital question to Vermont that its physicians should 
be well trained, but it is a question of comparatively little importance where they get 
their training. This migration of students is a thing concerning which the state has 
no occasion to concern itself, so long as there exists in Vermont itself fair collegiate 
opportunities for its sons and daughters who either prefer to remain at home or 
cannot afford to go elsewhere. 

In repayment of this debt to the outside colleges Vermont extends an educational 
hospitality to an unusually large number of students who come from outside the state. 
As has already been pointed out, at the University of Vermont 38 per cent, at Mid- 
dlebury College 53 per cent, and at Norwich University 57 per cent of the students 
are not Vermonters. The principal outside sources whence students are drawn to the 
Vermont colleges are shown in the following table, made up from the student attend- 
ance for the year 1912-13: 

Mukllefmry Nonoich 

College University 

153 62 

57 49 

31 1 

24. 15 

27 8 

16 2 

5 

2 
3 
1 

It will be seen that, next to the state of Vermont. Massachusetts is the great con- 





Vnirerslti/ of 
Vermont 


Vermont 


350 


Massachusetts 


55 


New York 


54 


New Hampshire 
Connecticut 


21 

24 


New Jersey 
Maine 


13 
6 


Pennsylvania 
Rhode Island 


6 
5 


Canada 


4 



202 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

tributor to the Vermont student body. About 16 per cent of the total attendance 
in the tliree colleges is from Massachusetts. They do not come, as one might infer, 
mainly from western Massachusetts, but from all over the state. One contributory fac- 
tor in this migration may be the preference of a certain number of Massachusetts 
students for a co-educational institution. New York is next to Massachusetts in stu- 
dent representation in Vermont. That part of New York lying west of Lake Cham- 
plain is practically unprovided with colleges, and the University of Vermont and 
Middlebury College are the most convenient seats of learning for students from this 
i-egion. Similar geographical considerations hold with respect to students coming 
from New Hampshire and Connecticut. It is a fortunate thing that the attendance 
upon educational institutions of higher learning is independent of state lines. In 
the long run, all of the states profit by the arrangement, and a state repays by the 
students that it entertains in its colleges the educational debt it owes to other states. 

In the preceding sections an effort has been made to show those essential facts re- 
lating to the work of the three institutions which would enable the reader to under- 
stand their work and their significance to the state. It would be a simple matter to 
develop such a study into a minute criticism of the details of each institution. Noth- 
ing is easier than to point out the weak places in a course of study, the deficien- 
cies of the teaching staff of a department, the lack of facilities in this or in another 
dii-ection. Such criticism, however, is of little value either to the institutions them- 
selves or to those who seek to help them. There is always danger that in such a study 
the consideration of details will obscure the fundamental questions involved. 

Any college or university having a real reason for existence must face two funda- 
mental questions : one is a question of educational judgment, the other a question of 
personnel. 

The first may be stated somewhat as follows: Taking into account its situation, its 
probable resources and its constituency, what fields of education ought the institution 
to cultivate? What are the possibilities of the college, and what are its limitations .!* 
This is a question of educational policy. It is fundamental, and the solution that is 
made of it controls in greater or smaller degree all other acts that the college performs. 

The second question a college has to solve is: Having decided the field in which it 
may work, how can it secure scholarly and able men to do the work .'' 

College boards of trustees and college officers seldom place these questions in the 
foreground. As a i-ule, those who administer the college deal with details. They add 
a chair here, a department there, and meet the competition of a nearby institution by a 
parallel course of study. The process is like that of a government bureau. The organi- 
zation gi-ows by accretion, not by a process of natural growth and a shedding of 
atrophied members. 

The answer to these fundamental questions for any particular institution is to be 
worked out by those who are responsible for it. No outside agency can do it. ITie 



OUTLOOK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN VERMONT 203 

best that such an agency can do is to give the point of view of the outsider. This has 
its advantages and its disadvantages. The outside point of view is at least disinter- 
ested. It overlooks the whole field. It is not swayed by personal and local influences. 
On the other hand, it cannot voice the aspirations, the hopes, the strivings of a com- 
munity or of a state; and educational institutions must take into account not only 
those things that are seen, but some of the things that are not seen. Educational 
institutions can no more neglect sentiment than can religious institutions, but, on 
the other hand, sentiment must not be allowed to run away with sound judgment. 
The following general observations, therefore, upon these two fundamental topics, as 
they relate themselves to the three Vermont colleges, are presented from the stand- 
point of the educational student who recognizes the value of sentiment, and who is 
willing to see such questions solved not only on the ground of cold reason, but in 
a spirit of educational sympathy. 

In attempting to indicate a feasible educational policy for the University of Ver- 
mont, one will take into account first of all its situation. It stands in a cultured and 
interesting community in a small city of more than usual attractiveness. Such a city 
ought to afford distinct advantages of a social sort both to the members of a faculty 
and of a student body ; and a part of the problem of those who direct such an insti- 
tution would be to make the most of these advantages. 

From the purely educational side the development of the College of Arts and Sci- 
ences of the university w ould seem to be its first and greatest duty. Tliis college is the 
oldest branch of the university. Whatsoever of sentiment and tradition has grown up 
clusters about it. Here the university seeks to do two things: to give a liberal educa- 
tion to those who are to complete in college their formal studies, and to give a liberal 
foundation to those who will seek preparation for the professions here or elsewhere. 
To accomplish these ends, strong courses in the humanities and in the sciences are 
necessary. The student who looks toward law or toward medicine or toward engineer- 
ing should find here a thorough and fruitful foundation for his profession. 

The second obvious and pressing duty of the University of Vermont is the devel- 
opment of the State Agricultural College into a fruitful and efficient educational 
agency, having a stimulating relation to the industries of the state. The obligation 
to do this is all the stronger because the university has accepted from the state this 
trust and has received through the state a generous endowment from the national 
government. It is a question no less of educational consistency than of educational 
honor that this college should be made strong and fraitful before the money of the 
general government is spent for other pui-poses. 

In the third place the university at Burlington is a fitting and suitable place for 
the development of an engineering school of moderate scope. The state has large 
interests not yet touched which engineers are to develop. A college of engineering 
having real and vital contact with these growing interests is clearly within the pos- 
sibilities and the opportunities of the university. 



204 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

In the fourth place a graduate school would probably, in the natural order of 
things, arise slowly out of the undergraduate instruction. There is, however, no other 
division of American university work that has in the past been less sincere and 
more open to criticism than the so-called graduate schools. It has been assumed that 
no research work could be done unless there was a formal graduate school, whereas, 
if research comes at all, it grows naturally out of the work of teacher and student. 
Any graduate school should await for its foundation the development of a strong 
and well-equipped undergraduate college, and should come slowly as the natural 
blossom of an intellectual plant. 

All else that the university may do beyond these things ought to be entered upon 
only after serious and thorough study, and only after the requisite means have been 
secured to support upon a sound basis the divisions of work already mentioned. The 
school of medicine should be given up. 

A department of education for the training of high school teachers has been in- 
augurated. A similar department exists at Middlebury College. As pointed out else- 
where, the number of high school teachers required yearly is small. The supply that 
presents itself from the colleges both in Vermont and adjoining states is large. Nearly 
all these college-trained teachers are without actual training in teaching. They have 
been taught in colleges where a course in education has been formed by adding acertain 
amount of psychology and theory of teaching to an ordinary college course. Teach- 
ers cannot be trained in this way. No school of education is a real training-place for 
teachers until it offers practice-teaching. The school-room is the laboratory of the 
school of education. The teachers training college that does not offer such practice- 
teaching is in the situation that the school of engineering would be if it taught 
engineering without a laboratory. In this connection one word may be said concern- 
ing the attitude of the schools toward practice-teaching. There is a widespread feel- 
ing among parents that children in a school that is used for practice-teaching are 
being made the victims of educational experiment. Nothing could be further from 
the facts. No child is so well taught as the child in a school where practice-teaching 
is allowed. The situation is very similar to that in the hospitals in which medical 
teaching is allowed. The patient in a teaching hospital receives such attention as 
the patient in other hospitals can seldom obtain at any price. The physician who 
visits the wards of a hospital with a half-dozen keen students at his heels gives these 
patients a study that he gives to no other. Here his mistakes, if they are made, 
will be brought out. He is put on his mettle as under no other conditions. In just the 
same way the school that lends itself to practice- teaching gets the benefit of teachers 
quickened at every step by the keen stimulus of the apprentice teacher. 

As to the second problem, that of obtaining the men to do well the work which 
has been determined upon, only a word need be said. This problem is that which 
confronts every university, whether it be situated in a small city or a large one. Ob- 
viously, it is to the interest of the University of Vermont to draw to it the best pes- 



OUTLOOK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN VERMONT 205 

sible men as teachere, to have these men represent many varieties of training, and to 
give them the opportunity to create an atmosphere of scholarly endeavor that shall 
be inspiring to the student. This is the problem of every university. Every institu- 
tion has to resist the tendency to inbreeding, and deliberately to widen its choice of 
men without losing the feeling of coherence and of sympathy. The present salaries at 
the University of Vermont are low, compared with those at other institutions of its 
standing, and the bringing of good men to its teaching force will be in some mea- 
sure, at least, related to the increase of salaries, but it should not be forgotten that 
no process tends towai'd the dilution of salaries more strongly than the widening of 
the field of instruction. The university that undertakes to cover a limited field with 
a limited number of men can, in the nature of the case, pay higher salaries than an 
institution which, with the same income, undertakes to deal with the entire field of 
knowledge. Expansion of the curriculum always means the dilution of salaries as well 
as of energy. To give a limited number of strong courses by strong men is far better 
than to give many meagre courses by a large number of ill-paid men. 

Turning from the University of Vermont to Middlebury College, one finds here, 
as at the University of Vermont, an old college with a good history, whose roots 
have grown in a true educational soil, and which is performing a real educational 
function in the state and region. Here, as at the University of Vermont, the College 
of Arts and Sciences is the heart of the institution. This means no duplication of an 
objectionable sort. Undergraduate student bodies of the size of these two colleges 
can be taught in two groups without duplication or waste. To teach English, mathe- 
matics, chemistry, and physics to two such groups of several hundred students each 
instead of one is a very different thing from maintaining two technical schools instead 
of one for a limited body of students. 

In Middlebury College, as in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of 
Vermont, the aim will be, as it has been in the past, to give both a general education 
and a grounding for professional work. Strong departments are therefore justifiable 
not only in the humanities, but in economics and physics and chemistry and biology. 
The reason for the existence of a strong and vigorous college of liberal arts in Mid- 
dlebury College which shall do these two things is clear and uimiistakable. Whether 
the college should undertake more than this is a question that those who govern it 
should consider with the utmost care. Under the stimulus of a state subsidy, a depart- 
ment for the training of teachers is now maintained. Like the department at the LTni- 
versity of Vermont, it lacks the prime requisite of practice-teaching. Whether, con- 
sidered from the purely educational point of view, this large professional department 
and the College of Arts and Sciences can be developed side by side is at least a ques- 
tion. The spirit and function of the two educational projects differ widely. In the long 
run, one or the other is likely to gain the ascendancy, and experience shows that the 
strong professional spirit generally overcomes the less aggressive cultural ideal. From 
the standpoint of the state it seems clear that the subsidy for the department of peda- 



206 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

gogy should cease. It would stiU remain a question whether a department for the pro- 
fessional training of teacliers is educationally wise and in the interests of the College 
of Arts and Sciences. With regard to the other ventures of the college into engi- 
neering and agriculture, the decision seems unquestionable. It may be entirely desir- 
able to offer a semester's work in surveying to those students who wish to elect it, 
but this is quite another thing from holding out the suggestion of engineering. A 
study like agriculture may be an entirely fruitful subject to incorporate in the col- 
lege, but to hold out the suggestion that it is a vocational opportunity is sure to be 
misleading. The college may use any study that it can profitably and advantageously 
give. It cannot afford, however, to jeopardize its main function of education by offer- 
ing to students courses that in\ate by attractive names to a dissipation of their en- 
ergy and lead neither to culture nor to training. The college student of to-day stands 
in very much greater danger of intellectual dyspepsia from a series of indigestible 
courses offered him at random than he is of being restricted to an intellectual diet 
that is too rigid and meagre. 

One who visits many of the small colleges of the country throughout the Union is 
necessarily led into a fairly intimate acquaintance with the country inns of the col- 
lege towns. Under such circumstances he cannot fail to be struck by an analogy between 
the hotel menu card and the intellectual bill of fare in the college catalogue. When 
one inspects the biU of fare that the innkeeper presents to his patrons, he finds him- 
self bewildered by the long array of dishes. He is offered a choice as varied as he would 
find at a great city hotel, but the difficulty is that out of the whole array he is unable 
to secure a simple and wholesome meal. He ^^'ou]d gladly exchange the wealth of the 
printed menu for a few simple, wholesome, and well-cooked dishes. The college boy 
of to-day who comes to college for his four years of study and play and development 
can, after all, in that four years digest and assimilate only a limited intellectual 
meal. He finds it no easy task to select such sustenance from the long and varied menu 
card with which he is presented. 

The great and serious difficulty, however, of the country college comes in finding 
the men for its work. Briefly stated, the college stands face to face witii a question 
something like this: What inducement can be offered to a scholarly and able man 
that will influence him to come at a meagre salary to a small college, where he is 
in a large measure cut off from scholarly companionship, from libraries and other 
facilities, and where conditions are such that a cook cannot be had for love or 
money ? 

Fortunately, the actual result of the matter is not quite so hopeless as this ques- 
tion would seem to imply. Material considerations, whether they be those of salary 
or conditions of living, do not wholly govern the choices made by able and scholarly 
men. There are many such men scattered through the small colleges of the country, 
serving on just such meagre salaries under just such difficulties of rising cost and 
economic maladjustment. The president of Middlebury College himself is an admira- 



OUTLOOK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN VERMONT 207 

ble example of an able man serving without regard to the rewards that he might win 
elsewhere. It is such devotion that saves our colleges from mediocrity, just as the ser- 
vice of the general government is saved by the presence of devoted, able, and ill-paid 
men of whom the general public never hears. 

Nevertheless, it stiU remains true that the present conditions tend steadily to bring 
the mediocre man as professor to the college in the small town, and that some effort 
must be made to better these conditions, if these colleges are to remain fruitful sources 
for the training of men and women. Hitherto most colleges have been so occupied with 
plans to catch the student that little time or money or thought has been left for 
plans to ciitch the teacher. 

Here again the solution must be sought by those directly charged with the respon- 
sibility. The problem is difficult enough at the best. Plainly, increased salaries form 
one factor in the situation, but an examination of many such colleges leaves at least 
the impression that the solution rests by no means entirely upon financial grounds, 
and that the matter of better salaries is only one factor in the problem. Those who 
administer the college in the small town have certain opportunities that they have 
not hitherto employed by which to make more attractive the life of the teacher and 
to draw to them better men. Having unlimited light and air and a large amount of 
ground, teachers' houses of an inexpensive sort, built to make housekeeping as con- 
venient as possible, and rented at a cost that is sufficient to pay for interest and up- 
keep, is one resource for the country college. Any plan that will take from the shoul- 
ders of the teacher's family some of the difficulties of the present situation would make 
an enormous difference in his outlook. Many a scholar who would willingly live in a 
small village himself, and who could find there the means of productive scholarship, 
hesitates to impose upon his wife the difficulties of the regime. It may well be that 
a plan of simple and convenient housing for professors might be worked out under 
simple but attractive conditions, perhaps with a common dining-room. In numerous 
directions the college authorities might make their professorial chairs vastly more at- 
tractive without the expenditure of large sums of money; but to carry out such plans 
will require thought and care and study. In such problems the able men of business 
who in many cases constitute the trustees of such colleges should be able to render 
a notable service. No other single question to-day is so important, both to the college 
of the city and to the college of the small town, as this, and for its solution the small 
college has certain distinct advantages that it has hitherto not used. One or two men 
of the first rank in a small college faculty raise the level of all the rest. They create 
a different atmosphere and furnish the ideals. The college that could bring half a dozen 
such men into its service would shine in the educational firmament like a star of the 
first magnitude. 

So far as the interests of higher education in Vermont are concerned, these two 
institutions give every promise of serving them effectively. It is well that they pre- 
sent a diversity of environment and of plan. One is a modest university in a moderate- 



208 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

sized city, the other a good college in a small town. Their opportunity to serve edu- 
cation lies not in imitating each other or the larger universities, but in an intelli- 
gent study and in an effective solution of their own problems. Both have their roots 
deep in the affections and confidence of the citizens of the state, and in their hands 
higher education in Vermont will be secure and vigorous without leaning upon a state 
subsidy. 

When one comes to estimate the place of Norwich University in such a general sur- 
vey of higher education, the conclusion is inevitable. The institution has no such edu- 
cational reason for existence as the other two. It offers courses in engineering in a 
field already oversupplied with far better engineering schools. A place more unsuited 
for an engineering school than Northfield it would be diflicult to find. The resources 
of the institution are whoUy unequal to the instruction that it undertakes to give. For 
some years it has been artificially stimulated by a state subsidy. That subsidy cannot 
be defended upon any sound public policy or for any sound educational reason. If it 
is withdrawn, as it should be, it will be the duty of those who administer the institu- 
tion to face frankly and courageously the question as to the true function of such an 
institution. The responsibility for this rests not upon the state, but upon those who 
direct and control the college, and one may hope that, notwithstanding the difficult 
and trying situation in which these trustees may find themselves, they will deal with 
this question manfully, patriotically, and from the standpoint of educational judg- 
ment, not from the standpoint of institutional sentiment. 

Wholesome and earnest as is the student life in the main in these three institu- 
tions, there is one side of it that needs far more consideration at the hands of those 
in charge of them. This is the dormitory life and the problem of supplying a whole- 
some and simple diet. 

Few factors in the life of a young man between the ages of eighteen and twenty- 
two have more influence than the day-by-day environment of the room in which he 
lives. AVhile the conditions in the three colleges are not quite the same in this re- 
gard, it is fair to say that in none of them does the dormitory life furnish an ele- 
ment in the student's betterment. Conducted genci'ally under the practical direction 
of the young men themselves, the dormitories present an environment of carelessness 
and disorder that cannot fail to have its effect on the student. A college is intended 
to develop the whole man. It may well be doubted whether four years of Latin and 
mathematics and science in the class-room can ovei'come the effect of a living-room 
untidy and ill kept. Simplicity and order are neither expensive nor difficult to ob- 
tain. They ought to form part of the college training. There is no better place to 
inculcate them than in the rooms in which students live. If the college wiU set itself 
to deal with this matter, it will use one of the most powerful educational agencies 
within its reach, and one that does not call for more money. If the college oversight 
would go a step farther and do something to educate the taste of its students 
in the matter of the wall decorations in their rooms, it would take a real step in the 



OUTLOOK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN VERMONT 209 

development of that culture that looks toward true gentlemanliiiess. No other lesson 
is better worth the college effort than that of showing its students how to join good 
taste with simplicity and economy. Not alone in these colleges, but in most American 
colleges, there is to-day little or no effort in this direction. 

In comparison with the men's dormitories, those of the young women are neat, 
orderly, and well kept. 

The problem of supplying w-holesome and simple food to students under good con- 
ditions is a more difficult question, and one involving a larger financial responsibility. 
Nevertheless, it is one deserving of serious consideration. To conduct, in the presence 
of rising prices, a college commons at a modest rate is no easy task. It is, however, 
rather a question of efficient organization and oversight than of large capital. 

Such questions as these have hitherto been relegated to the rear in determining 
the policy of American colleges. During the past decade an enormous expansion of 
the colleges has taken place, both in the courses taught and in the student attend- 
ance. The college machinery has been organized with the purpose of getting stu- 
dents into college rather than with settling the question of how they should be dealt 
with when once there. If for the next decade the American college will turn its atten- 
tion to the intensive cultivation of its present field rather than to the acquisition 
of larger numbers, the happiest results will follow. 



XVI 

PROGRAM Oi: REORGANIZATION 

The following statement presents the summarized conclusions of the enquiry fi-oni a 
point of view varying somewhat from that which determined the method of treatment 
pursued in the foregoing report. It is here sought to lay out a provisional program for 
constructive action in the field to which, it is believed, state educational activities in 
Vermont may profitably be directed. This tabulation is not, therefore, an exhaustive 
index to the findings of the report, nor are all points here mentioned given full and 
systematic discussion in the preceding sections. 

I. General Policies: 

1. The application of all state school funds and appropriations for education in 
about their present amount to the development of an efficient elementaiy and 
secondary school system. 

2. The withdrawal, therefore, of state subsidies from all higher institutions not 
owned and controlled by the state. 

3. The concentration in a State Board of Education of full powers for the regu- 
lation and disposition of all state moneys for education, subject to the biennial 
appropriations by the legislature. 

II. Measures for Legislative Enactment: 

1. The creation of a State Board of Education consisting of five members to be 
appointed by the governor, one member to be appointed each year for a term 
of five years, subject to removal by the governor on charges publicly filed with 
the secretary of state. The members of this board shall be representative citi- 
zens not professionally engaged in education or interested directly in any 
educational institution; they shall serve without pay. This board shall be a 
governing and not an administrative board; its duties shall be: 

(1) To appoint an executive officer to he knowni as the Commissioner of Edu- 
cation, through whom alone its oversight of the educational affairs of the 
state shall be conducted ; to fix his salary, and in the event of the unsat- 
isfactory performance of his duties, to remove him. 

(2) To appoint upon the nomination of the Commissioner of Education, 
and upon his motion to remove, all other officers necessary to the effective 
administration of the Department of Education, and to fix their salaries. 

(3) To act in all matters after advising w-ith the Commissioner of Education, 
who for this purpose shall be ex officio a non-voting member of the board; 
to give validity by its sanction to approved proposals of the Commissioner 
of Education. 

(4) To prepare and submit to each legislature a budget of educational ex- 
penses for the ensuing biennium. 



PROGRAM OF REORGANIZATION 211 

(5) To regulate completely the distribution of school funds. 

(6) To see to the enforcement of all laws pertaining to schools or education. 

(7) To classify schools; to establish uniform records and reports; to determine 
the qualifications of teachers, their certification for elementary, second- 
ary, and special schools, and the recognition of certificates and diplomas 
from other states. 

(8) To exercise complete oversight and control in schools owned by the state 
and in educational departments in other state institutions; in schools 
aided by the state to exercise such oversight as may be necessary to safe- 
guard the conditions upon which aid is granted. 

(9) To devise necessary agencies both for the initial training of teachers and 
for their professional advancement in service. 

(10) To consider the interests and welfare of the whole body of teachers in the 
state and, if desirable, to undertake the establishment of a retirement or 
pension fund for their benefit. 

(U) To study the educational needs of the state and to take steps to provide 
adequate facilities for such vocational or other training as may be con- 
sidered advantageous. 

(12) To establish in cooperation with the State Board of Health standards for 
the construction, arrangement, and sanitary equipment of school build- 
ings and school sites; and to direct the medical inspection and study of 
public health in so far as schools are concerned. 

(13) To give state-wide publicity to accurate and comprehensive information 
regarding the educational facilities both within and without the state. 

(U) To make an annual report to the governor of its acts, together with an 
itemized account of its expenditures of school appropriations. 

2. The transfer to the State Board of Education thus created of the powers and 
duties now belonging to the present Board of Education, to the Trustees of 
the Permanent School Fund, to the Trustees of the State School of Agricul- 
ture at Randolph, to the Board of Trustees of the State School for Feeble- 
minded, to the Commissioner of the Deaf, Blind, Idiotic, and Feeble-minded 
Children of Indigent Parents, and to the State Board of Penal Institutions, 
in so far as the Industrial School is concerned ; and the enlargement of such 
powers and duties to full discretion and control in each of these respective 
fields. 

3. The discontinuance of the normal schools now conducted at Johnson and 
Castle ton. 

4. The repeal of all laws inconsistent with the intent of the above recommended 
legislation. 

III. The Administrative Policy of the State Board of Education: 
1. General Features: 



212 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

(1) Tlie appointment, with adeijuate salary, of an executive capable of exercising 
the foremost educational leadership in the state. 

(2) Tlie appointment of a sufficient number of trained inspecting and supervising 
officers to make the policy of the Board of Education understood and effective 
in every school. 

(3) The maintenance of an education department equipped for the apjjropriate 
handling and educational use of records, reports, and accounts, as well as for 
the proper transaction of the business of the executive .staff. 

(4) The use of the classification of schools, the regulations for the distribution of 
school funds, the qualification and certification of teachers, and all other ad- 
ministrative measures as means for securing the greatest possible educational 
activity and efficiency throughout the state. 

(5) The provision for a trustworthy school census, supervised by local superintend- 
ents and giving information having educational importance. 

(6) The introduction of a simjile and uniform system of school reports and school 
accounting for teachers, school committees, and other town officers concerned. 

2. The Elementary Schools: 

(1) The award to towns of state aid in any form only for schools complying with 
state regulations in respect to hygiene of grounds and buildings, qualifications 
and salaries of teachers, and character of equipment and maintenance. 

(2) The award to heavily taxed antl needy towns, fully complying with state reg- 
ulations, of a differential aid tending to ecjualize the school expenchture per 
pupil according to a standard to be determined by the board. 

(3) Sufficient inspection on tlie part of state supervising officers to give the local 
superintendents the benefit of their experience and influence, and to ])rotect 
the conditions on which the state board grants aid. 

(4) The guarantee in every school of a school year having a standard length to be 
determined by the board. 

(5) The complete elimination of the ninth grade. 

(6) An immediate revision and standardization of the curriculum, providing each 
teacher with a clearly detailed and feasible program of work suited to the 
locality. 

(7) The abolition of the free tuition examination so soon as a curriculum is avail- 
able and state inspection has been well established. 

(8) The requirement that in return for state aid the problems of consolidation and 
transportation be submitted to officers of the State Board of Education for 
adjustment, thus giving each town the benefit of the general experience. 

3. The Secondary Schools: 

(1) A classification of high schools on the basis of sustained excellence of equip- 
ment and operation. 

(2) The award of state aid only to high schools complying with the board's regula- 
tions in respect to hygienic conditions of grounds and buildings, character of 



PROGRAM OF REORGANIZATION 213 

equipment and maintenance, qualifications, salaries, and service of teachers, 
and nature and extent of curriculum. 

(3) Constant, systematic inspection on the part of a competent state officer. 

(i) The use of school funds to develop a few carefully selected high schools as cen- 
tral or regional institutions affording enlarged opportunities during the last 
two years of the course, together with adequate vocational facilities, particu- 
lai'ly in agriculture, in their junior divisions. 

(5) The reorganization by the same means of the remaining high schools into junior 
high schools offering a four-year course beginning with the seventh grade and 
including the first two years of the present high school. 

(6) The thorough revision of the curriculum to meet the new lines of organization 
and to secure more varied, more appropriate, and more elastic courses. 

4. Vocational Schools: 

(1) Modifications in the curricula of the elementary schools and of the junior high 
schools with a view to securing a sympathetic attitude toward vocational train- 
ing. 

(2) The establishment in the junior division of all the proposed central high schools 
of thorough vocational courses in agriculture, and later, of other promising 
forms of vocational training. 

(3) The extension of vocational courses in the upper years of the proposed central 
high schools as conditions may require. 

(4) The gradual development of distinct vocational schools in agriculture and 
other trades. 

5. Supervision : 

(1) The extension of the present system of union superintendents, with increased 
emphasis upon their qualifications and salaries. 

(2) The gradual enlargement of their districts to coincide with the proposed re- 
gional high school districts. 

(3) The eventual consolidation of such districts into compact administrative units 
including all schools under one competent head. 

6. The Training and Certification of Teachers : 

(1) The intensive development in high schools in all parts of the state of training- 
classes for elementary teachers. 

(2) The eventual establishment of a single high grade teachers' training-school to 
prepare teachers for the junior high schools and for higher grade positions, to 
bring leadership and unity to the work of the training-classes,and to afford per- 
manent facilities for summer schools and special courses for teachers in service. 

(3) The regulation of financial aid primarily with a view to ensuring the employ- 
ment of good teachers. 

(4) An increase in the qualifications required of secondary school teachers in re- 
spect to (a) concentration of preparation on the subjects that are to be taught ; 
(b) experience in teaching under competent professional criticism. 



214 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

(5) Modification of tlie system of certifying teachers in favor of (a) shorter tei-m 
certificates commensurate with the degree of preparation ; (b) the principle of 
probationary certification, with extension only after competent inspection in 
service. 



PART III 
STATISTICS 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

LETTER TO CITIZENS OF VERMONT WITH TABULAR ANALYSIS OF REPLIES 
GENERAL STATISTICS OF VERMONT FOR THE FIVE DECADES, 1860-1910 

1. TOTAL population; 3. SCHOOL POPULATION; 3. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE; 4. INDUSTRIAL POP- 
ULATION; 5. FINANCIAL CONDITION 

(a) wealth ; (b) assessed valuation ; (c) CENSUS VALUATION OF NATIONAL WEALTH 

SCHOOL FINANCES IN VERMONT IN 1912 

1. SUMMARY OF GRAND LISTS; '2. PERCENTAGE OF THE GRAND LIST LEVIED BY THE VARIOUS 

TOWNS FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES; 3. PER CAPITA YIELD OF THE SCHOOL TAX IN THE SEVERAL 

TOWNS 

BUDGET OF THE FINANCIAL EXPENDITURES FOR SCHOOLS AND EDUCA- 
TION IN 1911-12 

PROPORTIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF CURRENT EXPENSES IN 1911-12 

THE VERMONT PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN 1912-13 

SUPERVISION : SALARIES OF TOWN AND UNION SUPERINTENDENTS 

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS : THE TEACHERS 
(a) AGE; (b) experience; (c) weekly SALARIES; (d) ANNUAL SALARIES 

THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

1. classification; 2. comparison of selected factors of efficiency in large and small SCHOOLS ; 
3. comparison OF THE COST OF INSTRUCTION IN LARGE AND SMALL SCHOOLS ; 4. TABULAR VIEW OF THE 
SIZE OF CLASSES; 6. PERSONALIA OF PRINCIPALS; 6. PERSONALIA OF FULL-TIME TEACHERS (EXCLUSIVE OF 
principals); 7. THE COLLEGES WHERE PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS WERE TRAINED; 8. COMPARATIVE VIEW 
OF THE WEEKLY NUMBER OF RECITATION PERIODS REUUIRED OF PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS, TOGITTHER 
WITH THE AVERAGE MEMBERSHIP OF THEIR CLASSES; 9. THE SALARIES OF PRINCIPALS AND THE AVERAGE 
SALARIES OF FULL-TIJIE TEACHERS 

DISTRIBUTION OF ATTENDANCE ON THE HIGHER INSTITUTIONS BY COUN- 
TIES 
1. UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT; 2. MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE; 3. NORWICH UNIVERSITY 

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE VERMONT STATE BOARD OF HEALTH RELA- 
TIVE TO SCHOOLS 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

The material included in the following pages constitutes but a small portion of the 
statistical data gathered by the agents of the enquiry. At every point in the study 
where such information was available the effort was made to assemble and consider 
fully the statistical facts before proceeding to conclusions. In most cases the results 
appear in summarized form either in the text or in the footnotes of Part II. Where 
it was felt that the complete array would prove of particular interest it has been 
printed in full herewith. 

A large pai't of the material from which much had been expected proved, when sub- 
jected to careful scrutiny, to be untrustworthy. The statistics contained in the bien- 
nial school repoi-ts are frequently of this nature. These large and impressive volumes, 
published for many years, contain the biennial report of the superintendent of edu- 
cation, which is usually a message of state-wide importance. To this is attached, how- 
ever, a mass of uninterpreted statistical detail having little practical value. The data 
are gathered through well-worn channels from various sources, chiefly from the clerks 
of the towns. ITie forms on which they are returned are antiquated ; the questions are 
frequently confusing to those who are asked to answer them, and lead easily to error. 
Where the returns should correspond with those from other sources there are wide dis- 
crepancies. Some items are without importance, and occasionally the results are wholly 
misleading because of duplication. It is impossible from such data to construct ac- 
curate comparative statistics. 

At present the state education department is not prepared to collect or to deal with 
such material in the proper way. The superintendent of education is too heavily bur- 
dened already to undertake such work, and he is provided with no adequate staff or 
funds for the purpose. If the recommendations already outlined elsewhere are carried 
into effect, the whole matter will be placed in charge of a trained assistant who under- 
stands somewhat of the educational significance of his duties, and he will be provided 
with ample clerical facilities. The forms should be thoroughly revised and simplified. 
Even so it will require constant watchfulness in securing and checking up the results. 
It is possible that all except the financial information should be supplied directly by 
the local educational authorities instead of by the town clerks. In any case the pub- 
lished educational statistics should be simple, clear, and consistent; as far as they go, 
they should represent the situation truthfully and accurately, and should furnish a 
sound and convincing argument for the projected policies of the department. 

Statistical comparisons of Vermont with other states, in respect to educational facts, 
are withheld for reasons similar to those which make comparative statistics of state 
fiicts questionable. Until some uniformity can be introduced into state accounting, so 
that the homogeneous and comparable character of gross sums can be assured, com- 
parative financial displays are certain to be unreliable. Moreover, even if it were pos- 
sible to depend upon the figures, the mere comparison of expenditures between states 



218 EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

must serve inevitably to flatter or wound state pride without reference to the signifi- 
cance or justice of the relative situation. To be of genuine service, a comparison must 
be as accurate and complete in its definition of the problem with which each state is 
confronted as it is in its record of the means taken to solve it. That Vermont appor- 
tions six per cent of its entire school expenditure for the transportation of pupils while 
another state uses but two per cent for that purpose is, by itself, a wholly blind com- 
parison. For profitable information of this sort, therefore, we must await not only 
accurate and uniform accounting systems, but also the scientific appraisal, in com- 
parable terms, of the educational situation with which each state has to deal. Until 
such material is available to show in identical terms the extent to which various states 
provide for meeting identical needs, it behooves each state to attack its actual situa- 
tion not by imitation of others, but in the spirit of intelligent independence. 

In order to afford opportunity for the free expression of opinion on the part of those 
best fitted to judge of Vermont's educational conditions and needs, the following letter 
was sent by the Educational Commission to about two thousand persons, including 
union and town superintendents, members of school boards, principals and teachers 
in high schools, teachers in elementary schools, and a large number of representative 
citizens not directly connected with education. 

MontpeUer, Vermont, May 10, 191S. 
In your best judgment, what are the two or three essential matters that should 
first receive attention in order to enable the schools of \'ermont to render the 
most effective service to the children and to the people of the state? 

Will vou please answer at vour early convenience the above question, which is 
being submitted at this time to a number of the representative citizens of Ver- 
mont by the Educational Commission, recently created by the legislature to un- 
dertake an investigation of the educational system and conditions of the state.? 
The Commission realizes the great value of the mature judgment of those cit- 
izens of the state who stand nearest to its activities and institutions, and who 
desire to conserve its best interests. 

Assuring you of our appreciation, I am 

Very sincerely yours, 

JoHK H. Watson, Chairman. 

The replies to this letter arranged in order according to the numerical strength of 
the various suggestions appear in the following table: 



STATISTICS 



219 







ll 


i-s 
















, 


a-; 


i^ 


H 






.1 






l§ 






•il 




1 
s 


1 


Is 






_§ 


e 2 


i S 


!•§ 


§^ 


■2 


P 


e 




^ 


^^ 


e^ 


(51 


^0 


►.J 


S 


«s 


g 


Better trained teachers 


125 


33 


22 


10 


12 


29 


12 


70 


313 


Higher salaries for teachers 


41 


20 


21 


11 


11 


12 


6 


34 


156 


More efficient supervision 


38 


11 


11 


8 


5 


14 


11 


50 


148 


Cooperation with home 


43 


15 


16 


10 


10 


2 


9 


IB 


121 


Consolidation of small rural schools 


40 


9 


12 


2 


1 


17 


6 


21 


108 


More practical courses 


23 


12 


12 


13 


10 


1 


2 


24 


97 


Better sanitary conditions 


31 


11 


20 




4 


4 


6 


7 


83 


Better buildings 


31 


8 


5 


8 


2 


6 


3 


13 


76 


Agricultural education 


21 


6 


6 


8 




7 


3 


18 


69 


Better grading 


15 


5 


14 


9 


6 


2 


6 


10 


67 


Stress on three "R's" 


24 


4 


7 


2 


4 


3 




19 


63 


Uniform courses of study 


10 


8 


5 


6 


3 


8 


7 


10 


57 


Better morals 


17 


5 


3 


6 


3 




1 


14 


51 


Longer term of school 


18 


12 


9 


3 


1 


1 


1 


4 


49 


Better enforcement of compulsory attendance 


17 


2 


3 


3 


2 


7 


1 


11 


46 


More school supplies and libraries 


7 


7 


8 


6 


5 


2 


6 




41 


Vocational training 


10 


5 


5 


5 


5 




2 


8 


40 


Medical inspection and physical education 


10 


4 


7 


3 


3 


1 


1 


7 


36 


More care in selection of text-books 


5 


14 


2 


1 






1 


3 


20 


Manual training and domestic science 


5 


2 


3 


5 


5 






5 


25 


Legislation to aid in establishing central and union 




















schools — pay higher salaries, etc. 


7 


3 


3 


1 


1 


1 


1 




17 


Special attention to raising standard of smaller schools 


2 










1 


1 


9 


13 


College requirements — distinction 








6 


"2 






5 


13 


Less cramming 


3 


i 


'2 




3 


1 




1 


11 


Longer term of office for teachers 


3 






"4 




1 


i 


1 


10 


No conveyance paid 


6 














2 


8 


Fewer text-books and more practice work 


3 




2 










1 


7 


Higher age limit for children 


1 


i 


2 












6 


Closer supervision of playgrounds by teachers 


1 


1 


1 








i 


1 


5 


No consolidation 


2 














2 


4 


Advanced mathematics, bookkeeping, and English lit- 




















erature 


3 






1 










4 


Repeal of laws prohibiting corporal punishment — bet- 




















ter discipline 
















4 


4 


More attractive arrangement of studies 




1 


i 








1 




3 


Civil government 




1 




1 






1 




3 


No state permits for teachers 


"i 


1 










1 




3 


Regent system 




1 












1 


2 


Fund to enable impoverished children to remain in school 


















2 


Pensions 








i 










2 


A board to make out and correct examination papers 


"2 
















2 


A higher standard for schools, and laws to compel its 




















observance 


1 






1 










2 


More to\vn and less state control 


1 














'i 


2 


Economy on part of teachers and scholars in use of 




















school supplies 


2 
















2 


Music 




1 


"1 














2 


Oral recitation 


1 




















Immoral children removed from school 


1 




















School laws based on new tax laws 


1 




















Condense school laws 


1 




















No home town teachers 


1 




















More teachers on special subjects 


1 




















Uniform entrance examinations for all high schools 








1 














Old method of teaching languages 


1 




















Distribution of state money per capita, for each scholar 




















attaining certain requirements 


1 


.... 














1 


Total number of letters sent 


725 


153 


180 


96 


68 


57 


57 


785 


2139 


Total number of replies received 


235 


73 


82 


56 


39 


54 


38 


37 


2 


940 



EDUCATION IN VERMONT 



GENERAL STATISTICS OF VERMONT' 



1. Total Population 





Total 






Rural 


Urban 


Native 


Foreign 




Population 


Males 


Females 


Population 


Population 


Born 


Born 


1860 


315,098 


158,786 


156,312 






282,355 


32.743 


1870 


330,551 


165,721 


164.830 






283,396 


47.155 


1880 


332,286 


166,887 


165,399 






291,327 


40.959 


1890 


332,422 


169,327 


163,095 


215,359 


117,063 


288,334 


44.088 


1900 


343,641 


175,138 


168,503 


204,461 


139,180 


298,894 


44.747 


1910 


355,956 


182,568 


173,388 


187,013 


168,943 


306,035 


49.921 



2, School Population 





Between 


















the Ages 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 




Total 


Boys 


Girls 


I860 


5-15 


68,976 


35.060 


33,916 


1860 


79.565 


41.363 


38.202 




5-20 


102.634 


52,192 


50,442 


1870 


72,199 


38.813 


33,386 


1870 


5-18 


89.831 


45,667 


44,164 


1880 


73,237 


37,300 


35.937 


1880 


5-14 


67.726 


34,633 


33,093 


1890-91 


65.608 ' 








5-19 


99.463 


50,520 


48,943 


1900 


60.082 


30,326 


29.756 


1890 


5-17 
5-20 


81.957 
101.457 


42,251 
52,340 


39,706 
49,117 


1910 


66,845 


33,449 


33.396 


1900 


5-14 
B-19 


62.025 
93,495 


31,405 
47,140 


30,620 
46,355 










1910 


5-14 
5-19 


64,108 
95,269 


32,367 
48,489 


31,741 
46,780 











3. School Attendance 



4. Industrial Population 







Transpor- 


Profession 
and Persoi 


al 
at 






Agriculture 


tation 


Services 


Manufacturing 


Minin 


I860 








[Combined) 




1870 


57,983 


7,132 


21,032 


22,616 




1880 


55,251 


8,945 


28,174 


26,214 




1890 


56,183 


14,551 


28,335 


29,702 




1900 


49,820 


18,889 


30,544 


36,180 


5,398 


1910 








33.788 


8,388 



Farms 
1860 
1870 
1880 

1890 $101,805,370 
1900 108.451.427 
1910 145.399,728 



$5,904,705 
8,221,323 
(product) 



5. Financial Condition 



(a) wealth 



Manufacturir 
Estabiishment 
$14,637,807 
32.184,606 
31.354.360 
38.340.066 
57.623,815 
68,310,000 
(product) 



1900 



Real Property 

Live Stock and Farm Equipment 
Manufacturing 
Trade 
Bullion 
Miscellaneous 
Total 



1,153,290 
!,927,890 
.682,873 
•,374.071 
i,312,728 
.465.956 



$329,916,808 



1860 
1870 
1880 
1890 
1900 
1910 



(b) 



assessed valuation 



Real Property 
$70,341,721 
80,993,100 
71,114,747 
112,895,125 
118,950.024 
143.386.564 



Personal Property 
$16,530,130 
21.555.428 
15.037.262 
49,203.388 
40.884.198 
45.106.982 



(c) CENSUS valuation OF NATIONAL WEALTH 



1860 (taxable) $122,477,170 

1870 (taxable gold basis) 188,279,642 
(taxable currency basis) 235,349.553 

1880 all 302,000,000 

1890 all 265,567.323 

1900 all 329.916.808 

1904 all 360.330.582 



' These statistics are based on the U. S. Census returns, with the exception of those marked with an asterisk. 



STATISTICS 



221 



SCHOOL FINANCES IN VERMONT IN 1912 



1. Summary OF the Grand Lists' of the 

268 Taxing Units in Vermont in 

1912 



Amount of Grand 
List 


Number of t 
or tax MTi 


$342- 


$1,000 


9 


1,001- 


2,000 


25 


2.001- 


3,000 


37 


3,001- 


4,000 


34 


4,001- 


5,000 


43 


5,001- 


6,000 


23 


6,001- 


7,000 


15 


7,001- 


8,000 


19 


8,001- 


9,000 


12 


9,001- 


10,000 


ll' 


10,001- 


15,000 


17 


15,001- 


25,000 


12 


25.001- 


50,000 


6 


50.001- 


100,000 


5 


167,588 




1 



2. Percentage of the Grand List levied 

FOR School Purposes in 1912 in the 

268 Taxing Units in Vermont 



Percentaffe of 
Grand List 


Number of towns 
or tax units 


20- 29 




4 


30- 39 




10 


40- 49 




12 


50- 59 




70 


60- 69 




73 


70- 79 




65 


80- 89 




13 


90- 99 




7 


100-109 




8 


110-119 




4 


125 




1 


140 




1 



3. Per Capita Yield of the Local Tax Levy for School Purposes in 268 Towns 
AND Tax Units based on the Number of Census Children 

BETWEEN 5 AND 17 YeARS OF AoE, INCLUSIVE 



Amount per 

child 

$5.50- $6.49 

6.50- 7.49 

7.50- 8.49 

8.50- 9.49 

9.50-10.49 

10.50-11.49 

11.50-12.49 

12.50-13.49 

13.50-14.49 

14.50-15.49 

15.50-16.49 

16.50-17.49 

17.50-18.49 

18.50-19.49 

19.50-20.49 

20.50-21.49 

21.50-22.49 

22.50-23.49 

'The "Grand List' 
the ratable polls. 



Amount per Number of iomns 

child or tax units 

$23.50-$24.49 8 

24.50-25.49 6 

25.50-26.49 6 

26.50-27.49 6 

27.50-28.49 2 

28.50-2949 1 

29.50-30.49 3 

30.50-31.49 2 

31.91 
32.75 
44.56 
45.45 
49.03 
51.02 
53.43 
65.87 
70.18 
83.91 
n Vermont consists of one per cent of the assessed value of the real and personal pi 



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912, page 190. 
age 190. $64,1 

le local shar 
chools. See a 
ppear in the 

Diversity of 
he Free Publ 







EDUCATION IN VERMONT 

PROPORTIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF CURRENT EXPENSES 

IN Vermont Public Schools, 1911-12 



Total expenditure for all purposes, including local supervi- 
sion, but excluding grounds and buildings and debts on 
the same 


$1,673,709.35 


Expended for 

Teachers' salaries 




Percentage 
57.86 


Transportation and board 
Water, fuel, and light 




6.04 
5.14 


Town and Union superintendents 
Janitors 




4.60 
4.03 


Repairs 

Debts on current expenses of 19IO-1 1 




3.97 
3.68 


Tuition for advanced instruction 




3.24 


Miscellaneous items 




2.86 


Supplies and appliances 
Text-books 




2.77 
2.45 


Rent and insurance 




.96 


Furniture 




.78 


Tuitions for elementary instruction 
School directors 




.67 
.66 


Truant officers 




.21 


State aid for manual training 
Medical inspection 




.06 

.02 



100.00% 



THE VERMONT PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN 1912-13 
Supervision: Salaries of Town and Union Superintendents 

Salary Number receiving 

$1000-$1249 1 

1250- 1499 19 

1500- 1749 21 

1750- 1999 8 

2000- 2249 * 

2250- 2499 2 

2500 and over _2 

57 



STATISTICS 



225 



The Elementary Schools 



(a) 


Age of Elementary Teachers in 




/ A \ Experience of Elementary Teachers in 
\"/ Vermont Public Schools, 1912-13 


Vermont Public Schools. 1912-13 


Age 


Number 


Age 


Number 


Experience 
in Years 


City Teachers 1 Rural Teachers 
Number | Number 


16 


2 


44 


16 


i 


2 


37 


17 


33 


46 


8 


i 


4 


79 


18 


142 


46 


14 


1 


33 


276 


19 


226 


47 


9 


2 


39 


208 


20 


201 


48 


4 


3 


36 


182 


21 


160 


49 


9 


4 


34 


162 


22 


153 


50 


9 


5 


4(; 


119 


23 


167 


51 


7 


6 


41 


62 


24 


116 


52 


10 


7 


29 


81 


25 


124 


53 


1 


8 


32 


56 


26 


93 


54 


5 


9 


36 


36 


27 


72 


55 


4 


10 


26 


48 


28 


80 


56 


2 


11 


18 


27 


29 


57 


57 


1 


12 


21 


27 


30 


44 


58 


6 


13 


14 


36 


31 


52 


59 


3 


14 


12 


22 


32 


28 


60 


2 


15 


17 


17 


33 


42 


61 




16 


11 


10 


34 


29 


62 


3 


17 




8 


35 


34 


63 




18 


12 


8 


36 


30 


64 




19 


5 


9 


•37 


29 


65 


1 


20 


21 


10 


38 


24 


66 


1 


21 


7 


8 


39 


25 


67 


1 


22 


7 


7 


40 


17 


68 




23 


5 


4 


41 


19 


69 




24 


4 


4 


42 


11 


70 


1 


25 


5 


3 


43 


12 






26 
27 
28 
29 


6 
1 
6 
5 


3 
1 

2 





(C) Weekly Salaries of El 


ementary Teachers in Vermont Public School 


3, 1912-13 






Number of Teachers 


Salary 


.Number of Teachers 


Salary ^ 


City <& Village 
Schools 


Rural 
Schools 


Total 


Cityd: Village 
Schools 


Rural 
Schools 


Total 


$5.00 
6.50 
6.00 


4 

10 

1 

22 

5 

21 

7 

61 

15 

78 

36 

36 

36 

59 

31 

10 

27 

17 

9 

9 

4 

3 

2 

4 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 
1 

1 
1 


15 

B 

11 

3 

61 

139 

345 

150 

306 

63 

266 

22 

19 

8 

56 

11 

20 

2 

5 

9 

1 


15 

5 

15 

3 

71 

140 

367 

155 

327 

70 

326 

37 

157 

44 

92 

47 

79 

33 

15 

27 

26 

10 

10 

5 

3 

3 

8 

1 

3 

3 

1 

2 

1 

1 
1 


Brought forward 
$29.00 
31.50 


517 
1 


1,586 

1 


2.103 

1 
1 


7.00 


Tntal 


518 


1,587 


2,105 


7.50 
8.00 
8.50 
9.00 
9.50 


/ J\ Annual SaLaries of Elementary Teachers in 
V""^ Vermont Public Schools, 1912-13 


10.50 
11,00 
11.50 
12.00 
12.50 
13.00 
13.50 
14.00 
14.50 
15.00 
15.50 
16.00 
16.50 
17.00 
17.50 
18.00 
18.50 
19.00 
19.50 
20.00 
20.50 
21.00 
21.50 
22.00 
22.50 
23.00 
23.50 


$150 
175 
200 
225 
250 
275 
300 
325 
350 
375 
400 
425 
450 
475 
500 
525 
550 
575 
fiOO 
625 
650 
675 
700 
725 
750 
775 
800 
825 


$174 

199 

224 

249 

274 

299 

324 

349 

374 

399 

424 

449 

474 

499 

524 

549 

574 

599 

624 

649 

674 

699 

724 

749 

774 

799 

824 
and over 


6 

6 

17 

17 

13 

43 

46 

42 

62 

55 

28 

54 

42 

15 

8 

20 

• 6 

5 

2 

8 

1 

2 
3 


11 
6 

48 

248 

277 

207 

•200 

95 

102 

46 

29 

35 

25 

2 

4 

9 

4 
2 
1 

1 

1 

1 
1 


11 

6 

54 

248 

283 

224 

217 

108 

145 

92 

71 

97 

80 

30 

58 

51 

15 

12 

22 

7 

6 

2 

9 

2 

3 

5 






501 


1.357 




Forward 


517 


1,586 


2,103 




OTOl 





^ Id nearly all cases salaries below $7 include board. 



EDUCATION IN VERMONT 



The Secondary Schools 
The approved high schools in Vermont are grouped below according to the number of full- 
time teachers employed, and are classified according to the present official classification. 
Bellows Academy at Fairfax is considered as a private institution. 



Four to twenty-one 


eachers — .33 




Three teachers — 17 






No. of 


Enrolment 






Enrolment 


Class Name 


Teachers 


191-3-13 


Class Name 


1912-13 


1 Burlington 


21 


382 




Barton 


106 


1 Rutland 


14. 


427 




Windsor 


86' 


1 Barre 


10 


291 




Vergennes 


76 


1 Brattleboro 


10 


235 




Stowe 


75 


1 Bennington 


9 


178 




Bristol 


74 


I Bellows Fall 


s 8 


229 




N. Bennington 


68 


1 Middlebury 


7 


186 




Bethel 


67 


1 Montpelier 


6 


163 




S. Royalton 


65 


1 St. Albans 


6 


160 




Johnson 


63 


1 Springfield 


6 


144 




Richford 


61 


1 Morrisville 


6 


125 




Enosburg Falls 


60 ' 


1 Woodstock 


6 


129 




Essex Jet. 


56 


1 Randolph 


5 


127 




W. Rutland 


55 


1 Northfield 


+ 


101 




Pittsford 


53 


1 White River 


Jet. t 


101 




Waterbury 


51 


1 Hardwick 


5 


87 




Swanton 


48 


1 Fair Haven 


■I 


95 




Winooski 


31 


1 Newport 


4 


92 








1 Brandon 


4. 


80 








1 Ludlow 


4 


77 








1 Proctor 


4. 


65 








1 Chester 


4 


63 








1 Bradford 


4 


49 
3,586 64.2% 






1,095 19.6% 


Two teachers — IS 






One teacher— 19 




1 Hyde Park 




51 


3 


Williamstown 


25 


1 Chelsea 




47 


3 


Waitsfield 


24 


1 Canaan 




41 


3 


Marshfield 


21 


1 Rochester 




40 


3 


Plainfield 


20 


1 Richmond 




40 


3 


Pawlet 


20 


I Newbury 




40 


2 


Underhill 


16 


1 Wilmington 




37 


3 


Montgomery Center 


16 


1 N. Troy 




37 


3 


S. Londonderry 


15 


1 Hinesburg 




37 


3 


Brookfield 


15 


1 Island Pond 




36 


2 


Shoreham 


14 


1 Jericho 




35 


3 


Weston 


14 


1 Wells River 




35 


3 


Cabot 


12 


1 Orleans 




32 


3 


Corinth 


11 


1 Franklin 




32 


3 


Proctorsville 


11 


3 Milton 




26 


3 


Wallingford 


11 


1 New Haven 




20' 


3 


Gaysville 


10 


1 Highgate 




19 


4 


Benson 


10 


1 Danville 




18 


2 


Royalton 


10 








4 


Middletown Springs 


5 






623 11.2% 






280 5% 


'Enrolment in 1911-12. 








Total = 77 





STATISTICS 



227 



2. Comparison of the Large and Small High Schools in Vermont in respect to 
certain selected factors of efficiency 





Schools 


Schools 




Schools 


Schools 




having 4-22 


having 2 




having 4-22 


having 2 




teachers 


teachers 




teachers 


teachers 


Percentage of college-trained 






Percentage of subjects being 






principals and teachers 


95.4' 


80.5 


taught with advanced college 






Percentage of inexperienced 






preparation 


36.3 


23 


principals and teachers 


11.6 


31 


Median number of diflerent sub- 






Percentage of new principals 






jects taught by principals 


4 


7 


and teachers 


32 


58 


Median.number of different sub- 






Percentage of subjects taught 






jects taught by teachers 


3 


6 


without school preparation 


5.9 


10.8 


Median number of class periods 






Percentage of subjects being 






per week of principals 


25 


39.5 


taught with high school prep- 






Median number of class periods 






aration only 


10.9 


25.5 


per week of teachers 


28 


39.5 


Percentage of subjects being 






Median salary of principals 


$1,500.00 


$850.00 


taught with elementary col- 






Median salary of teachers 


650.00 


447.50 


lege preparation 


46.9 


40.7 









3. Comparison of the Large and Small High Schools in Vermont in respect to the 
Cost per Pupil of teaching Senior Latin one hour per week through the Year 

(" Cost" is obtained by dividing the amount of annual salary by the number of periods of instruction 
per week and the result by the number of pupils in the class) 



Schools having 4 teachers or more 


Schools having 2 teachers 


Cost 


Salary 


Class periods 
per week 


Pupils 
in class 


Cost 


Salary 


Class periods 
per ireek 


Pupils 
in class 


$1.08 


$650 


30 


20 


$2.53 


$800 = 


45 


7 = 


1.43 


500 


35 


10 » 


2.67 


360 


45 


3' 


1.89 


850 


25 


18 


3.04 


500 


41 


43 


1.92 


444 


33 


7' 


3.10 


418 


45 


3" 


2.61 


1,700^ 


31 


21' 


,3.23 


540 


33 


5» 


2.66 


800 


30 


10 = 


5.77 


450 


39 


2» 


2.66 


1,800^ 


27 


25 


6.43 


810 = 


42 


3 = 


2.75 


1,000 


22 


16 


7.14 


1,000 = 


35 


4 = 


2.78 


500 


30 


6 


7.26 


850 = 


39 


3 


3.09 


630 


34 


6 


8.00 


1,400 = 


35 


5' 


3.14 


550 


25 


7 


10.11 


445 


44 


1 


3.40 


850 


25 


10 


12.34 


432 


35 


1 


5.00 


600 


30 


4 


14.10 


550 


39 


1 


5.25 


1,050 


40 


5 


20.00 


900 = 


45 


1 


5.36 


1,500 2 


20 


14 










5.46 


1,500 2 


25 


11' 










5.51 


1,350^ 


24 


10 










6.14 


600 


32 


3 










8.33 


418 


33 


2' 










8.00 


1.000 


25 


5 










10.00 


1.400^ 


35 


4 










12.12 


1,600 2 


22 


6 










15.48 


1..300' 


21 


4 










jl/edians$3,40 


$850 


27 


7 


$6.79 


$545 


40 


3 



4. Size of Classes in Vermont High Schools 

(The figures indicate percentages of the total at the bottom of the column in each case) 



Size of Class 


Schools with ior 


Schools with 8 


Schools with 2 


Schools with 1 




more teachers 


teachers 


teachers 


teacher 




1-3 


5 


6 


14 


33 


10 


4-5 


5 


10 


17 


15 


10 


6-10 


16 


27 


40 


39 


26 


11-15 


15 


32 


19 


10 


19 


16-20 


21 


12 


10 


1 


14 


21-25 


20 


8 




2 


12 


Over 25 


18 


5 






9 


Total Number of Classes 


748 


361 


328 


205 


1,642 



"Principal. In the simple reckoning used here, "cost " includesexpense of supervision, etc., expected from the prin- 
cipal. To be strictly comparable, the teachers and principals should be grouped by themselves; the relation is the 
same, however, in either case. ^ Seniors and juniors combined in one class. 



EDUCATION IN VERMONT 



5. Personalia of High School Principals in Vermont 





Schools 














with 4 or 

more 
teachers 


Schools 


Schools 


Schools 






Number, Age. and Salary 


With S 
teachers 


with 2 
teachers 


with 1 
teacher 




Total 

77 




23 


17 


18 


19 






1. Number of men 


23 


17 


17 


9 


66 


(86.7% of 77) 


2. Number of women 






1 


10 


11 


(14.3% of 77) 


3. Total 


23 


17 


18 


19 


77 




4. Median age of men 


37 


33 


27 


26 


29.5 


5. Median age of women 






26 


26.5 


26 




6. Median age of group 


37 


33 


27 


26 


29 




7. Median salary of men 


$1,600.00 


$1,100.00 


$860.00 


$660.00 




$1,200.00 


8. Median salary of women 






$684.00 


$475.00 




$604.00 


9. Median salary of group 


$1,600.00 


$1,100.00 


$860.00 


$640.00 




$1,000.00 


Training 














10. Graduates of academies and high schools in Vt. 


10 


8 


9 


13 


40 


(61.9% of 77) 


11. Graduates of academies and high schools else- 














where 


13 


8 


8 


6 


35 




12. Graduates of normal school 




2 




1 


3 




13. Normal school non-graduates 








1 


1 




14. Graduates of colleges in Vermont 


B 


B 


8 


B 


23 


(38.3% of 60) 


IB. Graduates of colleges elsewhere 


18 






6 


37 


(61.7% of 60) 


16. Total graduates 


23 


12 


16 


10 


60 


(77.9% of 77) 


17. College non-graduates 




3 


1 


3 


7 


(9.1% of 77) 


18. Without college training 




2 


2 


6 


10 


(13% Of 77) 


19. Pedagogical training : none 


19 


10" 


12 


16 


57 


(75% of 76) 


20. Pedagogical training : elementary 


3 


6 


6 


3 


18 


(23.7% of 76) 


21. Pedagogical training : advanced 


1 








1 


(1.3% of 76) 


22. Attended summer schools 


12 


6 


6 


6 


28 


(36.8% of 76) 


23. Did graduate study 


3 




1 




4 


(5.2% of 76) 


24. Reported no later training 


6 


9 


11 


10 


36 


(47.4% of 76) 


Experience 














26. Elementary school : number experienced 


16 


8 


7 


10 


40 




26. Elementary school : average years 


2.1 


1.7 


4.1 


4.6 


2.C 




27. Elementary school : median years 


1 


1 


.7 


3 


l.e 




28. Secondary schools : number experienced 


23 


16 


11 


11 


61 




29. Secondary schools : average years 


11.4 


8.2 


4.2 


4.4 


7.<» 


SO. Secondary schools : median years 


10 


4.6 


8 


1 


6 




Present Work 














31. Total number of subjects now fciught 


90 


89' 


116 


1,39 


434 




32. Average number of subjects now taught 


3.9 


6.6 


6.4 


7.3 


6.6 


33. Average numberof subjects taught forflrst time 


.B 


.9 


.3.7 


3.6 


2. 




34. Medianaverage experience persubjectdnyears) 


5.2 


.3.8 


2.1 


1.6 


3.3 


35. Subjects taught without school preparation 


7 


6' 


16 


12 


41 


(9.4% of 434) 


36. Subjects taught with high school preparation 














only 


12 


17' 


23 


44 


96 


(22.1% of 434) 


37. Subjects taught with elementary college or 














normal school preparation 


64 


48' 


68 


67 


227 


(52.3% of 4S4) 


38. Subjects taught with advanced college or nor- 














mal school preparation 


17 


18' 


19 


16 


70 


(16.2% of 434) 


39. Median number of class periods per week 


25 


33 


39.6 


48 


36 




40. Highest number of class periods per week 


42 


46 


62 


84 


84 




41. Lowest number of class periods per week 


14= 


26 


33.3 


,SS^ 


14 





' Sixteen principals reporting. 

= Except in Burlington, where the work of the principal is almost wholly 

^ Two exceptional part-time eases with fewer hours are omitted. 



STATISTICS 



229 



6. Personalia of Full-time Teachers in 58 High Schools in Vermont * 

(Principals are omitted. Figures in parentheses in the first three columns indicate percentages) 





Schools 
mith 4 or 


Schools 
with 3 


Schools 
with 2 




Total 


Number, Age. and Salary 


teachers 


teachers 


teachers 




58 




23 


17 




18 






1. Number of men 


20 


2 






22 


(12.6% of 176) 


2. Number of women 


103 


32 


18 




163 


(87.4% of 176) 


3. Total 


123 


34 


18 




175 




4. Median age of men 


28 


30 






28 




6. Median age of women 


27 


24 


26 




26 




6. Median age of group 


27 


24 


26 




26 




7. Median salary of men 


$1,025.00 


^69.00 








$1,026.00 


8. Median salary of women 


$630.00 


$613.00 


$447.60 




$600.00 


9. Median salary of group 


$660.00 


$513.00 


^47.50 




$600.00 


Training 














10. Graduates of academies and high schools in Vt. 


57 (46.8) 


21 (61.1) 


10 


(56.6) 


88 


(50.3% of 176) 


11. Graduates of academies and high schools else- 














where 


M (52) 


12 (35.3) 


8 


(44.4) 


84 


(48% of 175) 


12. Graduates of normal schools in Vermont 


2 


4 


1 




71 


(12% of 175) 


18. Graduates of normal schools elsewhere 


12 


1 






131 


14. Normal school non-graduate 


1 








1 




15. Graduates of colleges in Vermont 


26 


17 


3 




46 


(34.6% of 133) 


16. Graduates of colleges elsewhere 


69 


9 


9 




87 


(66.4% of 133) 


17. Total graduates 


95 (77.2) 


26 (76.5) 


12 


(6.66) 


133 


(76% of 176) 


18. College non-graduates 


8 


1 


1 




10 


(5.7% of 176) 


19. Without college training 


20 


7 


5 




32 


(18.3% of 176) 


20. Attended schools of business, music, elocution. 














etc. 


14 


2 






16 


(9.1% of 176) 


21. Pedagogical training: none 


62 (60.4) 


14 (42.4) 


9 


(60) 


85 


(48.6% of 175) 


22. Pedagogical training: elementary 


57 (46.3) 


20 (67.6) 


9 


(60) 


86 


(49.1% of 176) 


23. Pedagogical training: advanced 


4 (3.3) 








4 


(2.3% of 175) 


24. Attended summer schools 


33 (26.8) 


6 (18.2) 


6 


(33.3) 


46 


(26.7% of 176) 


26. Did graduate study 


6 


' 


1 




8 


(18.3% of 175) 


Experience 














26. In elementary schools: number experienced 


40 (32.6) 


15 (46.6) 


8 


(44.4) 


63 


(36% of 175) 


27. In elementary schools: average years 


4.6 


2.6 


3.S 




8.7 




28. In elementary schools; median years 


3 


1 


2 




2 




29. In secondary schools: number experienced 


106 


21 


14 




141 


(80.6% of 176) 


SO. In secondary schools: average years 


5.6 


3.8 


3 




5 




31. In secondary schools : median years 


4 


2.1 


1.3 




3 




Present Work 














32. Total number of subjects now taught 


349= 


144 


88 




581 




33. Average number of subjects now taught 


2.8 


4.4 


4,9 




3.3 




34. Average number of subjects taught for first time 


.9 


2.1 


2.1 




1.8 




36. Subjects taught without school preparation 


19 (6.4) 


5 (3.5) 


6 


(6.8) 


30 


(6.2% Of 581) 


36. Subjects taught withhighschool preparationonly 


86 (10.3) 


16 (11.1) 


29 


(S3) 


81 


(13.9% of 681) 


37. Subjects taught with elementary college or nor- 














mal school preparation 


162 (43.6) 


64 (44.4) 


26 


(28.4) 


241 


(41.6% of 681) 


38. Subjects taught with advanced college or normal 














school preparation 


142 (40.7) 


69 (41) 


28 


(31.8: 


229 


(39.4% of 681) 



* Teachers of training-classes e 

"Principals," 

^One teacher not reporting. 



; not included. Data 



ing schools with one teacher will be found with the 



230 



EDUCATION IN VERMONT 



7. Colleges at which the Principals and Teachers in Vermont High Schools 

WERE trained 







1 


11 


lit 


IV 






Schoo 


s with 4 


Schools with 3 


Schools with •! 


Schools with 




Colleges 


or more 


teachers 


teachers 


teachers 


1 teacher 






Teachers 


Principals 


Teachers 


Principals 


Teachers 


Principals 


Principals 




Middlebury 


13 


2 


11 


2 


2 


3 


i 


37 


University of Verm6nt 


1?. 


3 


6 


3 


1 


4 


1 


31 


Mt. Holyoke 


18 




2 




1 


1 




22 


Smith 


15 




2 




1 






18 


Dartmouth 


2 


6 




4 




4 


1 


17 


VVellesley 


9 




1 




1 






11 


Boston University 


5 








1 


1 




7 


Brown 


2 


1 






1 






4 


Yale 


1 


3 












4 


Radchffe 


2 




1 




I 






4 


Teachers College 


2 


1 












3 


Colby 


1 


1 






1 






3 


Tufts 


2 






1 








3 


Amherst 


1 


1 




1 








3 


Bowdoin 


1 


1 










1 


3 


Bates 




2 


1 










3 


Williams 




1 


1 








1 


3 


Syracuse University 










1 


1 


1 


3 


St. Lanrence University 


1 












1 


2 


University of Minnesota 


1 
















Clark 


1 
















Hamilton 


1 
















Barnard 


1 
















Univ. of New Brunswick 


1 
















Berea 


1 
















Western Reserve 


1 
















University of Chicago 




1 














Rhode Island State 






1 












ColKate 








1 










Ripon 










1 








Norwich 












1 






Total 


95 


23 


26 


12 


12 


15 


10 


193 



8. Number of Periods per Week of Recitation required of Principals and the 
Average Number required from Teachers in Ver.mont High Schools 

TOGETHER WITH THE AVERAGE ClaSS MeMBERSHIp' 



I 






11 






111 




IV 


Schools with 4 or more 




School 


, with 3 






Schools with 2 




Schools with 


teachers 






teachers 






teachers 




1 teacher 


Principals 


Teachers 


Prin 


ipals 


Teachers" 


Principals 


Teachers 


Principals 


Pe- 


Class 


Pe- 




Pe- 


Class 


Pe- 


Class 


Pe- 


Class 


Pe- 


Class 


Pe- 


Class 




Mem- 


riods 


Mem- 


riods 


Mem- 


riods 


Mem- 


riods 


Mem- 


riods 


Mem- 


riods 


Mem- 




bership 




bership 




bership 




bership 




bership 




bership 




bership 








22 


22 


25 


9 


27 


17 


33 


5 


30 


9 


15 P.T. 


5 


14 


37 


22 


18 


25 


16 


29 


14 


35 


8 


33 


8 


25= P.T. 


12 


14 


21 


24 


22 


26= 


8 


31 


11 


35 


7 


34 


6 


35= P.T. 


5 


16 


24 


25 


18 


27' 


17 


31 


12 


35 


8 


35 


7 


40= 


5 


20 


22 


25 


20 


30 


13 


31 


18 


37 


16 


35 


6 


40= 


4 


20 


16 


26 


17 


30 


12 


31 


17 


38 


12 


38 


9 


43 




20 


9 


27 


21 


30 


11 


35 


10 


38 


10 


39 


10 


45 


6 


20 


21 


27 


17 


30= 


6 


35 


14 


38 


9 


39 


8 


45= 




21 


10 


28 


19 


33 


11 


35 


16 


39 


8 


39 


10 


48 


4 


22 


14 


28 


21 


33 


8 


35 


10 


40 


6 


40 


9 


48 


6 


24 


15 


28 


19 


33 


9 


35 


HI 


40 


4 


40 


9 


48= 


5 


25 


9 


28 


16 


35 


11 


35 


6 


43= 


7 


41 


8 


50= 


7 


25 


15 


29 


13 


35 


9 


38 


12 


43' 


7 


43 


7 


50' 


fi 


27 


20 


30 


13 


37 


15 


40 


11 


443 


9 


44 


8 


50= 


4 


27 


15 


30 


20 


39 


24 


41 


12 


45 


13 


45 


8 


52= 




28 


13 


31 


19 


39 


14 


46 


9 


453 


8 


45 


7 


53= 


5 


28 


19 


31 


13 


45= 


5 






47'' 


7 


48 


10 


56= 


8 


29 


10 


32 


12 










52= 


9 


55 


15 


60« 


4 


31 


12 


32 


18 


















84* 


4 


31 


20 


33 


10 






















33 


17 


33 


16 






















35 


16 


35 


7 






















42 


11 


38 


14 






















Medians 25 


15 


28 


18 


33 


11 


35 


12 


39.5 


8 


39.5 


8 


48 


5 



' Classes in commercial subjects and in all special branches have been omitted in estimating: the average class mem- 
bership. ^ Periods average 35 min. ^ Periods average SO min. • Periods average 26 min. 
■ One school failed to report. p.t. -^ Part time. 



STATISTICS 



231 



9. Salaries of Principals and Average Salaries of Full-time Teachers in 
Vermont High Schools, 1912-13 





th4or 


Schools 


with 8 


Schools with 2 


Schools with 


more teachers 


teachers 


teachers 


1 teacher 


Principals 


Teachers 


Principals 


Teachers 


Principals 


Teachers 


Principals 


$1,050 


$431 


$850 


$324 


$675 


$360 


$180 


1,100 


476 


1,000 


450 


084 


360 


450 


1,200 


500 


1,000 


456 


700 


396 


450 


1,250 


504 


1,000 


457 


800 


432 


450 


1.300 


508 


1.000 


475 


goo 


432 


468 


1,350 


558 


1,000 


500 


800 


432 


500 


1,350 


574 


1,100 


503 


810 


432 


504 


1,350 


583 


1,100 


504 


850 


432 


540 


1,400 


583 


1.100 


520 


850 


445 


540 


1,500 


616 


1.200 


525 


850 


450 


540 


1,500 


621 


1.200 


526 


850 


450 


550 


1,500 


650 


1,200 


550 


900 


468 


600 


1,600 


650 


1,250 


550 


900 


475 


600 


1,600 


700 


1.300 


550 


950 


500 


650 


1,700 


705 


1,300 


590 


1,000 


500 


050 


1,700 


733 


1,300 


595 


1,000 


518 


720 


1,700 


760 


1,400 


625 


1,200 


540 


720 


1,750 


764 






1,400 


550 


725 


1,800 


766 










850 


2,000 


777 












2,000 


800 












2,400 


834 












2,400 


844 












Jfedtan $1,500 


$650 


$1,100 


$520 


$850 


$447 


$540 



COUNTY DISTRIBUTION OF VERMONT STUDENTS ATTENDING 
VERMONT'S INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION 



County 


University of Vermont 


MlDDLEBURY COLLEGE 


Norwich University 


1902-3 


1907-8 


1912-13 


1902-3 


1907-8 


1912-13 


1902-3 


1907-8 


1912-13 


Addison 


10 


12 


7 


34 


70 


64 





6 





Bennington 


15 


21 


10 





8 


1 


2 


5 


5 


Caledonia 


10 


9 


14 





4 


4 


4 


5 


8 


Chittenden 


130 


116 


112 





1 


7 


2 


3 





Essex 


2 


5 


2 








2 


3 


4 





Frank-lin 


34 


32 


31 


6 


4 


7 


1 


7 


1 


Grand Isle 


3 


11 


3 




















Lamoille 


18 


19 


15 





1 


3 


3 


7 


1 


Orange 


18 


13 


19 





6 


6 


7 


4 


4 


Orleans 


18 


22 


14 








4 


1 


3 


2 


Rutland 


24 


18 


50 


10 


21 


26 


2 


7 


7 


Washington 


17 


17 


25 


7 


4 


5 


18 


19 


23 


Windham 


12 


14 


16 


1 


4 


7 


7 


5 


6 


Windsor 


29 


39 


32 


3 


11 


17 


7 


12 


5 




340 


348 


350 


61 


134 


153 


57 


87 


62 



RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE VERMONT STATE BOARD OF 
HEALTH RELATIVE TO SCHOOLS 

The Vermont State Board of Health, responding to the request of the Commission, 
submitted the following recommendations in regard to changes in the statutes relat- 
ing to School Hygiene : 

First. A date should be fixed at some reasonable time in the future, perhaps five 
or ten years, on whicli all schoolhouses in the state must have complied with the 
regulations of the State Board of Health. It is understood that such regulations 
would include only such features as are generally recognized by sanitary author- 
ities as essential to healthful schoolhouses; c.jg-., dirt-tight floors, jacketed stoves, 
windows of the correct size and properly placed, blackboards of the proper 
material and properly set, out-houses of sanitary construction and decently cared 
for, etc. 

Second. It is desirable that all towns in the state have medical inspection of pub- 
lic schools under some practical working plan. The purpose of this is primarily to 
ensure the early detection of disorders and deformities which may prove suscep- 
tible to correction, and to eradicate contagious diseases from the public schools. 

Third. It is desirable that the Department of Education gather and furnish to 
the State Board of Health such statistical data as are necessary for the proper 
discharge of their duties in the supervision of the hygiene of the public schools 
of the state. 

The committee of enquiry heartily endorses these reconunendations. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Academies, 26, 30, 63, 64, 6T, 228, 229. 
Agriculture, 8, 11,21, 22, 24, 127, 132, 133. 

In schools, 11, 46-48, 89, 104, 127-133. 

Principal industry of state, 127. 

State College of, 164-172. 

State School of, 129, 133. 
Agricultural schools of Wisconsin, 133. 
Algebra, 45, 47, 77, 81, 82, 84, 87, 102. 
American College, The, what it stands for, 182. 
Araerican Medical Association, 175. 
Amherst College, 200, 230. 
Arithmetic, 10, 45, 47-49, 103, 116. 
Austine Institution, 27, 34, 223. 

Barnard College, 230. 

Bates College, 230. 

Berea College, 230. 

Biennial school reports, 217. 

Billings. Frederick, 158. 

Board of Normal School Commissioners, 112. 

Board of Penal Institutions, 26. 

Boards of education in other states, 149. 

Books and supplies, 52, 53, 60. 

Boston University. 200, 230. 

Bowdoin College, 230. 

Brooks, Frank H., President E. and T. Fair- 
banks and Co. , 3. 

Brown University, 200, 230. 

Bryn Mawr College, 201. 

Budget of public expenditures for education, 
1911-12, 222, 223. 

Burlington, 19. 23, 26, 154, 158, 175, 178. 

Butler, Nicholas Murray, President of Colum- 
bia University, 3. 

l^ARNEGiE Foundation for the Advancement of 
Teaching, The, 4, 6, 7, 174. 

Methods of work of, 6. 
Castleton Normal School, 26, 111-113, 114, note, 

115. 118, 119, 123, 182. 
Central schools of London, 100, note. 
Chemistry, 71, 81, 102, 190. 
Children : 

Ages and school attendance of, 30, 40-42, 64, 
65, 144, 145, 220. 

Attending elementary schools, 8, 25. 

Between 5 and 17 years of age, 8. 

Compulsory school attendance of, 30. 

Free text-books for, 30. 



How best to utihze the time of, 131. 

Money needed for teaching of, 14. 

Not in school, 65, 66. 

Not reached by secondary schools, 66. 

Number attending public schools, 25, 26. 
In secondary schools, 65. 
Percentage of, living in the country, 40. 

Native born, 40. 
Play, ingenuity in organizing, 57. 

Present teaching of, radically wrong, 9. 

Studies of, 44-51. 

Transportation of, 39, 60, 61, 137, 139. 

Well taught in practice-teaching schools, 204. 
Clark University, 230. 
Classical course, 81. 

Clement, Percival W., former President, Rut- 
land Railroad, 3. 
Colby CoUege, 230. 
Colgate College, 230. 
College or university, fundamental reasons for 

existence, 202. 
Colleges drawing Vermont students, 200. 

Where principals and high-school teachers 
were trained, 230. 
Columbia University, 3, 6, 7, 200. 
Commercial course, 81. 
Commissioner of Education. 150. 
Commis.sions created, 112. 
Common schools : 

Became free in 1866, 140. 

Board of directors, 27. 

Problem of, 8. 

Sources of income, 32, 33. 
Compulsory education law, 42. 
Conclusions and recommendations. 7-16. 
Connecticut River. 19. 20, 22. 
Consolidated School Fund, 141. 
Converse, John H., 158. 
Cornell University, 200. 

Dartmouth CoUege, 176, 185, 189, 200, 230. 
Department of Superintendence of National 

Education Association, 135. 
Direct state support and educational standards, 

144, 145. 
Distribution of state funds, 146. [129. 

Domestic science in schools. 88, 103, 104, 128, 
Drawing, 44-47. 
Drinking-cup, common, prohibited, 58. 



236 



INDEX 



JliDucATioNAL Commission of Vermont : 

Appreciation of, 7. 

Invites Carnegie Foundation to study educa- 
tional conditions, 4. 

Letter sent to citizens of Vermont by, 218. 

Meetings held, i. 

Named by governor, 3. 

Resolution adopted, 4. 

Tabular analysis of replies to letter by, 219. 
Educational expenditures, 33, 34, 90, 91, 144, 

159, 161, 168, 180, 189,2^2-234. 
Elementary Schools, The, 36-62, 225. 

Age and attendance of pupils, 30, 40-42, 144, 
145, 220. 

Features of administration of, 39. 

Proportion of children enrolled, 41. 

Purpose of, 38. 

Recommendations, 61, 62. 

Scope and character of elementary education 
in Vermont, 38-61. 

Sources of information, 36, 37. 

Standards of judgment, 37, 38. 

Truancy in, 42. 

Teachers : 
Age of, 225. 
Experience of, 225. 
Number of, 225. 
Salaries of, 225. 
Elliott, Edward C, Professor, University of 

Wisconsin, 6. 
Emigration, 20, 21. 
English, 10, 44, 45, 47-49, 54, 77, 81-84, 91, 100, 

103, 116, 128, 162, 168, 190. 
English course, 81. 

Estee, James B., Mayor of Montpelier, 4. 
Evening schools, 143. 
Existing educational system. The, 25-35. 

Jb ARRiNGTON, Edward H., Professor, College 
of Agriculture of the University of Wiscon- 
sin, 7. 

Financial support of public school system, 140- 
147. 

French, 71, 91, 101, 104. 

Geography, 10, 44, 45, 49, 50, 54. 102. 
Geometry, 45, 81, 82, 102. 
German, 71, 77, 91, 101, 104. 
German secondary teachers, 72. 
Governor, The, 3, 7, 23, 26, 29, 155. 
Graded schools, 25, 42, 59. 



Graham, Horace F., State Auditor, 3. 
Grammar, 45, 48, 51, 85. 
Greek, 71, 81, 82, 91. 

H.AJIILT0N College, 230. 
Harvard Medical School, 176. 
Harvard School of Education, 6. 
Harvard University, 181, 200, 201. 
High schools : 
Accessibility of, 67. 
Age of teachers, 229. 

Number of, 226. 
Causes for withdrawals from, 94. 
Commercial education in, 87, 96, 98. 
Comparison of large and small, 227. 
Curriculum, based upon environment, 100. 
Inappropriate, 84-87. 
Mechanical, 83. 
Modifications of, 100-102. 
Revision of, 100, 103. 
"Domination of the college," 9, 82. 

Educational opportunity of, 99. 
"General science" course, 102. 
Groups, 97, 98. 
Janitor service, 68. 
Junior, aim to produce successful farmers, 

104. 
More teachers than places, 185. 
Number of pupils, 66. 
Graduates, 95. 
Recitations per week required from teacli- 

ers, 230. 
Teachers, 229. 
Occupations of graduates of, 95, 96. 
Records, 92. 
Rural problem, 97. 
Salaries of teachers of, 98, 231. 
Size of classes in, 227. 
Statistics of, 26. 
Student failures, 86. 
Studies preparing for college, 104. 
Superintendent of, 70. 
Teachers of, 30, 31, 66, 93, 94, 98, 101, 226- 

229. 
Training-classes, 115, 223. 
Two-teacher, expensive, 98. 
Visited, 63. 

Withdrawals from, 92-94. 
Women form 87 per cent of teachers, 76. 
Hillegas, Milo B., Professor, Teachers College, 
6, 62. 



INDEX 



237 



History, 45, 48, 49, 54, 77, 81-86, 101, 116. 
History of Vermont subsidies to Higher Educa- 
tion, 194-198. 
Hunt, George L., clerk of commission, 4. 

l.M.MIGRATION, 21. 

Johnson Normal School, 36, 111-113, 114, note, 
115, 118-120, note, 123, 183. 

JVlNDERGARTENS, 25, 143. 

Latin, 71, 77, 81-84, 87, 101, 104, 162. 
Latin course, 81. 

Learned, Dr. William S. , Harvard School of Ed- 
ucation, 6, 110. 
Legislature : 

Acts of, 28, 29, 52, 111-113, 128-130, 140, 141, 
148. 155, 156, 164, 194, 196, 197. 

Appropriations by, 13, 27, 111, 112, 128-130, 
140, 141, 194-197. 

Composition, 23, 34. 

Provides for Educational Commission, 3. 

Schools established by, 26, 27. 
Leslie, William, public accountant, 7. 
Local support for elementary and secondary 
schools, 142, 143. 

Tax for school support, 143. 
Lyndon Institute, 130, 131. 

Equipment of, 131. 

JManttal of agriculture issued, 128. 
Manual training in schools, 88, 128, 129, 222. 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, The, 166. 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 200. 
Mathematics, 71, 81, 84, 90, 102, 128, 162, 

168. 
'Mechanic Arts," 169, 170. 

Translated to mean high-grade engineering, 
170. 
Method of the enquiry. The, 4-7. 
Middlebury : 

Population, 178. 

Typical smaU New England town, 178. 
Middlebury College, 3,26, 34, 115, 153-156, 164, 
178-186, 194-202, 204-206, 223, 230, 231. 

Buildings, 179. 

Campus, 179. 

Charter, 154-1.56, 178. 

College of Arts and Sciences, 205, 206. 

Cost of student life moderate, 180. 



Courses of instruction, 181. 

Department of engineering, 181. 

Department of pedagogy, 182, 185. 

Endowment, 179. 

Entrance requirements, 183, 184. 

Expenditures, 179, 180. 

Government, 178. 

Growth in student attendance, 184. 

Income, 179. 

Instructing staff, 180. 

Men favored in matter of scholarships, 180. 

Officers of administration, 178. 

Opportunity before it, 184. 

President of, 206, 207. 

Problems, 185. 

Record of attendance, 184. 

Salaries of instructing force, 180. 

Scholarships, 180. 

Service to higher education, 207, 308. 

Tendency to become a women's college, 

185. 
Value of buildings and apparatus, 179. 
Women's College established, 178. 
Women students, 184. 
Morrill, Senator Justin S., 164, 168, 170. 
"Morrill Act," The, 164, 169, 170. 
Mt. Holyoke College, 200, 230. 

.Nature study, 44, 54. 

Nelson Amendment, 163. 

New England College Entrance Certificate 

Board, 160, 183, note, 191. 
Normal Schools, 26, 27, 111-114, 117, 118, 122, 
133, 333, 228, 229. 
Buildings and equipment, 113. 
Castleton,26, 111-113, 114, jjo<e, 115, 118, 119, 
note, 123, 182. 
Recommendation to discontinue, 123. 
Inadequacy of, 117, 118, 122. 
Ineffective at present, 16, 117. 
Johnson, 36, 111-113, 114, note, 115, 118-120, 
note, 123, 182. 
Recommendation to discontinue, 133. 
Location of, 113. 
Number of graduates of, 114. 
Organization of course of study in, 114. 
Randolph, 26, III, 112, 114, 7iote, 119, note. 
Discontinued in 1910, 129. 
Northfield: 

Location of, 187. 
Population of, 187. 



INDEX 



Norwich University, 3, 26, 34, 153, 154, 156, 164, 
178, 183, 187-198, 201, 208, 223, 230, 231. 

Attendance of students, 192, 193. 

Average salaries, 189. 

Buildings, 188. 

Ciiarter, 154, 156, 187. 

Cost, of buildings, 188. 
To students moderate, 189. 

Curriculum, 190. 

Degrees conferred, 191. 

Dodge, General, 188. 

Dodge-Ellis History, 192. 

Endowment, 198. 

Entrance requirements, 191. 

Expenditure of state money for, cannot be 
defended, 193. 

Expenditures, 189. 

Founded at Norwich, 187. 

Government, 187. 

Income, 188, 189. 

Instructing staff, 189. 

Laboratories meagre, 188. 
" Military college of the State," 156. [190. 

Military instruction backbone of school life. 

Name "university" unfortunate, 187, 188. 

Occupations of graduates, 192. 

Organization, 187. 

Removed to Northfield, 187. 

Scholarships, 189. 

State subsidy should be withdrawn, 208. 

Tompkins, Captain, 187. 

Ui.sHAusEN, Dr. George R., United States Bu- 
reau of Standards, 7. [1 99-209. 
Outlook for Higher Education in Vermont, The, 

Jtehmakent Public School Fund, 140. 

Physics, 77, 102. 

Physiology and hygiene, 44, 48, 50. 

Political pressure, 10, 11. 

Population, 8, 19-21, 220. 

Porter, Eli H., 3. 

Potter, Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch, Assistant Pro- 
fessor of Internal Medicine, Columbia Uni- 
versity, 7, 175. 

Poultry raising, 166, 167. 

Practice-teaching, 204. [201. 

Preference for institutions not co-educational. 

Primers and first readers, 44. 

Principals of high schools : 
Age of, 228. 



As "head-teacher," 75. 

Changes of, 73. 

Duties of, 74, 75. 

Experience of, 228. 

Number of, 228. 

N umber of recitations per week required, 230. 

Preparation of, 71, 72, 228. 

Salaries of, 72, 73, 75, 231. 

Subjects taught, 228. 

Tenure of position among, 73. 
"Professional" instruction, 79, 126. 
Professors, homes for, 207. 
Program of reorganization, 210-214. 

Administrative policy of State Board of Edu- 
cation, 211-214. 

General policies, 210. 

Measures for legislative enactment, 210, 211. 
Public school fund, 32. 

Radcliffe College, 230. \ 119, note. 

Randolph Normal School, 26, 1 1 1 , 1 12, 1 14, noU, 
Randolph State School of Agriculture, 129, 133. 
Reading, 44-46, 48, 49. 
Realschulen in Germany, 100, 7iote. 
Reason for the enquiry. The, 3, 4. 
Records and accounts, 134-139. 

And meetings, 136. 

Business administration, 134, 135. 

Disbursement of school moneys, 137. 

Financial reports, 135. 

Fiscal year, 135, 136. 

Legal date of reports, 135. 
"Permanent Record," 1.36. 

Supplies and other expenditures, 138. 

True revenue and expenditures, 134, 135. 

Uniform method of accounting suggested, 

134. 

'Regional" schools, 120. [126. 

Relation between education and training, 125, 

Reorganization of agencies for administration, 

148-152. 
Rhode Island State College, The, 166, 230. 
Richardson, H. H., 158. 
Ripon College, 230. 
Rural schools : 

Higher salaries for teachers of, 121, 146. 

Number of, 25. 

Pupils of, 8. 
Schoolhouses, 57. 
Teachers of, 8, 10. 
Rutgers College, 169. 



INDEX 



239 



St. Lawrence University, 230. 
St. Michael's Roman Catholic College, 26, 153. 
Scholarships, 13, 130, 139, 180, 189, 223. 
' School barges," 61. 

School census, 25, 30-32, 41, 64, 65, 220. 
School committee, 69, 74. 
School Fund Consolidation Act, 32, 33. 
School furniture 56, 58. 
Schoolhouses, 8, 25. 56, 57, 59, 68, 69. 

Rural, 57. 
School records and reports, 54, 92. 
' School survey." 4. 
Secondary Schools, The, 63-110, 226. 

Age and attendance of pupils, 64-66, 145, 
220. 

Committee, 69. 

Comparison of cost per pupil, 90, 9). 

Curriculum, The, 81-92. 

Definition of a, 96, 97. 

Differentiation, 66, 67. 

Distribution, 67, 68. 

Number and size of, 66. 

Personnel of administration and instruction, 
69-80. 

Physical equipment, 68, 69. 

Product of the, 92-96. 

Recommendations for improvement of, 106- 
110. 

School material, The, 64-66. 

Suggested solution of problem, 97-106. 

Superintendent, The, 70, 71. 
Simmons College, 200. 
Singing. 44, 46. 
Smith Cdllege, 300, 201, 230. 
Special schools, 151. 
Special trade schools, 129-131. 
'Speedwell Farms," 131. 
Spelling, 44. 

State aid to lower schools, 145. 
State appropriations for trade schools dilBcult 

to obtain, 126. 
State Board of Education, 28, 29, 40, 61, 112, 
114, 148-152. 

Appointed by governor, 149. 

Reorganization of, recommended, 152. 

Should consist of few members, 149. 
State Board of Health, 151, 232. 

Recommendations of, relative to schools, 232. 
State Board of Library Commissioners, 27. 
State Industrial School, 26. 
State influence in education, 148, 149. 



State School for Feeble-minded Children, 27. 

State School Tax, 32, 140, 145. 

State subsidies, 13, 15, 115, 145, 185, 186, 192- 

198, 205, 208. 
State superintendent, 16, 25, 42, 112. 
State's duty to elementary and secondary 

schools, 193. 
States furnishing students to Vermont colleges, 

201. 
Statistical data untrustworthy, 217. 

Gathered from various sources, 217. 
Stearns, Miss L. E., chief of Traveling Library 

Department, Wisconsin Free Library, 7. 
Student migration, denominational preferences 
affect, 201. 

Geographical conditions affect, 202. 
Summary of recommendations for the improve- 

mentof secondary education in Vermont, 106- 

110. 
Summer schools, 62, 115, 180, 223. 
Superintendent of education, 25, 29, 31, 115, 

128, 187, 217. 
Syracuse University, 200, 201, 230. 

-I ACONic Mountains, 19, 22. 
'Teacher's Manual for Use in the Elementary 

Schools," 36, 44, 46, 47. 
Teachers : 

Age of, 10, 32, 76, 229. 
Changes in personnel, 76. 
Country, 10, II, 121. 

As janitors, 58. 
Dependent upon text-book, 80. 
Examination and certification of, 31, 32, 50, 

51, 116, 117. 
Full-time, 74, 77, 79, 229. 
Improvement of, 33. 
Lack of practice-teaching, 78, 120, 204. 
Meetings, 55, 62. 
Payment of, 10. 32, 34, 39, 42, 43, 72, 73, 78, 

98, 121, 122, 138, 224. 
Programs of, 77. 
Requirements of, SO. 
Training of, 111-115. 

High school, 204. 
Training-classes for, 26, 88, 89, 112, 115, 120, 
123, 223. 

Numbers in, 115. 

Success of, 119-121. 
Tj'pical rural school. 42. 
Teachers College. 6, 230. 



240 



INDEX 



Total resources for elementary and secondary 

education, 143. 
Town superintendents, 28, 29, 51, 218, 224. 

Duties of, 28. 

Salaries of, 29, 224. 
Town system, 28. 

Trade education important for girls, 126. 
Trade schools : 

Experiments costly, 132. 

In Germany, 126. 

Necessity for, 126. 
Training, certification, and supply of teachers, 

111-124. 
Training-schools, 121-123, 133. 

Aims of, 122. 
Transportation aid, 141. 
Tufts College, 200, 201, 230. 
Tuttle, Allison E., President State Teachers' 

Association, 4. 

Union superintendents, 28, 29, 52-54, 58, 115, 
218, 322, 224. 

Duties of, 28. 

Handicapped, 54. 

Salaries of, 29, 224. 
Union supervision aid, 141. 
Unions for employing professional superintend- 
ents, 52. 
United States Bureau of Education, 135. 
United States Bureau of Standards, 7. 
United States Weather Bureau, 159, 189. 
University of Chicago, 200, 230. 
University of Illinois, 169. 
University of Maine, 200. 
University of Minnesota, 169, 230. 
University of Michigan, 200. 
University of New Brunswick, 230. 
University of Vermont and State Agricultural 

College, 3, 34, 115, 153-156, 158-177, 181, 183, 

193-197, 199-205, 223, 230, 231. 
University of Vermont : 

Athletic interests, 162. 

Buildings, 158. 

Charter, 154-156, 158. 

College of engineering, a, within the possibil- 
ities of, 203. 

Committees, 158. [169. 

Comparison of policy of different institutions, 

Corporation, 155. 

Cost of buildings, 158. 
Tuition and board, 159. 



Dignified and honorable American institution 

of learning, 162. 
Endowment of, 159. 
Entrance requirements, 160. 
Gifts by graduates, 158. 
Graduate school, a, 204. 
Housing of students, 161, 162. 
Income, 159. 
Location, 154, 158. 

Military drill and instruction, 162. [note. 

Proportion of graduates in the faculties, 160, 
Salaries low, 205. 
Salary expenditures, 161. 
Scholarships, 159. 

Serves interests of higher education, 207, 208. 
Women admitted to the, 161. 
State Agricultural College, 150, 158, 164-173, 
203, 223. 

Absence of familiar agricultural courses, 166. 
"Aggies," 89, 170, 171. 

Agricultural courses inadequately adjusted, 
165. 

Agricultural equipment meagre, 167. 

Annual income, 164. 

Corporation, 164. 

Curricula of, 165, 166. 

Equipment of, 164, 165. [16S. 

Expenditure of gift of U. S. government. 

Experiment Station, 158, 164, 165, 167, 168, 
171, 194, 223. 

Functions of, 171. 

Laboratory equipment meagre, 164. 

Necessity of adequate support, 171, 172. 

Number of graduates engaged in practi- 
cal agriculture, 162. 

Reasons for poverty and deficiencies of, 

168. [203. 

College of Arts and Sciences, The, 162, 163, 

Curricula of, 162, 163. 
College of Engineering, The, 163. 
College of Medicine, The, 1T2-177. 

Admissions to, 174. 

Attendance of students, 173, 174. 

Building, 172, 173. 

Clinical material, 175. 

Entrance requirements, 174. 

Equipment and value, 173. 

Expenditures, 173, 176. 

Expenses to students, 173. 

Faculty, 173. 

Income of, 173. 



Money needed, 176. 
Old medical school, 173. 
State expenditure unjustifiable, 177. 
University of Wisconsin, 6, 7, 169. 

\ AIL, Theodore N., President American Tele- 
graph and Telephone Company, 3, 130, 131. 
Vassar College, 200, 201. 
Ventilation, 57, 59, 69. 
Vermont, 19-21. 

Acreage of farms, 21. 

Agriculture, 8, 11, 21, 22. 24, 127, 132, 133. 

Annual income, 8, 14. 

Census, 19-21. 

Chief problem of, 8. 

Climate of, 19. 

Dairying, 22. 

Debt, 24. 

Development of her agricultural resources, 
133. 

Educational administration in, 12. 

Educational rivalry in, 197. 

Emigration, 20, 21. 

Forestry, 19, 20, 23, 137. 

General statistics of, for five decades, 220. 

Geography, 19. 

Government of, 23, 24. 

Growth of, 20. 

History of, 23. 

Immigration, 21. 

Industrial population, 320. 

Judicial authority, 23. 

Lumber industry, 22. 

Map of, 18. 

Marble Company, 192. 

Military operations in wars, 23. 

Mines, 22. 

Obligation to elementary and secondary 
school system, 197. 

Population, 8, 19-21, 320. 
Geographical shifting of, 30. 

Predominantly agricultural, 31. 

Proportional distribution of current expenses 
in public schools, 324. 

Railroad transportation in, 22. 

School finances in 1912, 221. 

School property in, 56. 

Settlement of, 33. 

Shape of. 19. 

Size of, 19. 

Small, 19. 



INDEX 241 

Soil, cultivation of, 19. 

Supplied, in 1908, more marbles than Italy, 
33. 

Textile manufactures, 22. 

Tied with Kansas for first place in enrolment 
of school children, 41. 

Valuation, 230. 

Wealth. 33, 330. 
Vermont Colleges : 

Annual appropriations, 195, 196. 

Atmosphere of student life in, 154. 

Charters of, 154-156. 

Co-education. 199-201. 

Comparison of men's with women's dormito- 
ries, 209. 

Competition for state subsidies, 196, 197. 

County distribution of Vermont students at- 
tending, 231. 

Dormitory life, 308. [154. 

Large proportion of students from other states. 

Number of students, 199. 

Problem of wholesome food for students, 309. 

Relations to the state, 153-157. [195. 

State expenditures for, increased year by year. 
Vermont School Reports, 81, 127. 
Vermont Schoolmasters' Club, 81. 
Vermont students attending colleges outside 

state, 300. 
Vermont Teachers' Association, 115. 
Vocational education : 

Problem of, 125-127. 

Purpose of, 125. 
Vocational schools, 13, 125-133. 

Constructive program. A, 131-133. 

Existing situation in Vermont, 127-139. 

Forms of. 127. 

Watson, John H., Chairman, Judge of Su- 
preme Court, 3. 

Wellesley College, 200, 230. 

Wesleyan University, 181, 200, 201. 

Western Reserve College, 230. 

Williams, Dr. Edward H., 158. 

Williams College, 200, 201, 230. 

Wisconsin Free Library, 7. 

Women in colleges, 159, 161, 178, 180, 182, 184, 
185, 199. 200, 209. 

Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 300. 

Writing, 44, 45, 48. 

Yale University, 181. 200, 201, 230. 



